


Strange Lovers

by TheOverlordOfIce



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Exposure, Akane has no shame, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Bad Pun, Chocolate, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Front Tail, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Implied Sexual Content, Mahiru needs a break, Massage, Rare Pairings, Rom-com, Romance, Several sub-pairings, Sleeping Together (not sexual), Stripping, Topless, Valentine's Day, first fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2020-10-27 17:36:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20764286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOverlordOfIce/pseuds/TheOverlordOfIce
Summary: Akane tries to navigate the complicated ways of dating. Unsurprisingly, she hits a few bumps along the way, but it’s nothing she can’t overcome with the help of a certain lucky student.





	1. The Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A normal lunch between friends becomes a confession about feelings, relationships, front tails and much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone thanks for checking in.
> 
> This is my first attempt at a fic and of course, it's a silly thing made just for the fun of it, you are probably thinking "Makoto and Akane? That's a weird ship", and you would be right! I never considered this ship until I saw "Ultimate Secret Friends" by Ark19 and "Everyday Life with Ultimate Girls" by wesst1, great fics and authors.
> 
> After that, I just found this pairing cute so I decide to write this short of crack fic about it, so I hope you can get a laugh out of this. Also, this got edited and revised by the lovely TheLadyRedHeart go check her stories if you like smut.
> 
> This is a Non-Despair-AU, they have their designs of DR3 and it can get a little... raunchy at times but don't worry we will not enter in the ''M'' rating.
> 
> With all of that out of the way, remember that I don't own Danganronpa and enjoy it.

* * *

Another day in Hope's Peak Academy, the biggest and most famous institution of Japan to cultivate the talent of the young and create a future full of hope for the world... and they, totally don't do morally dubious experiments on teenagers with low self-esteem or hide murders plotted by an insane teenager model, no that would be crazy...

But we aren't here to talk about the shitty management of Hope's Peak, no this story is about something much more simple. In the back of the school, two girls were having a nice lunch together, one of them was a girl with tanned skin, long brown hair that flowed down wildly down her back, and a powerful but curvy physique. Her companion has fair skin, decorated with freckles along her face and fiery red hair bob cut style. They were Akane Owari and Mahiru Koizumi.

Now, this was a rare pair to be seen interacting, but it wasn't that strange. By suggestion of the photographer, all the girls in class 77-B reunite behind the school building to have lunch together, without any icky boys of course. But by bad, or maybe good, luck everyone else had business to attend to, leading to the gymnast and photographer having lunch together alone...

Well, Mahiru was having lunch, Akane had devoured two lunch boxes the first minute she arrived and now was kicking her powerful legs up and down idly, her mini-skirt fluttering, with an expression of intense thought on her face. Mahiru found this weird. Even if she was her friend, she had to admit that the tanned girl wasn't the most... sharp-minded student of the school.

"Akane, is something wrong?" she asked with worry in her tone. After all, one of Akane's best qualities was how free-spirited she was, so seeing the gymnast like that wasn't a good sign.

"No." The strong girl's answer came fast. "Well, maybe...I dunno…" It was even weirder for Akane to fumble with her words and be so insecure, so that piqued Mahiru's interest. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course! We are friends! You can tell me anything!" Mahiru did her best to sound supportive before taking a sip of her apple juice. Whatever troubled her friend should be a really heavy, important topic.

"Do guys like sex?"

Mahiru did an excellent spit take; the angle, the quantity of fluid, the force, and the slight curvature of it was all pure perfection, you could even see a rainbow from the right angle.

The ginger entered a violent coughing fit, her friend sitting closer to her while patting her back softly, wanting to help, but not realizing that she was the cause of Mahiru's current lack of oxygen. "Aak! What?! Ah!"

"Oh, you didn't hear me? I asked if guys like s-" Akane was about to utter those words again, but this time was stopped.

"I-I heard you the first time." Mahiru told her, her cheeks red not only because of the coughs. "W-where is this coming from, Akane?" The dark-skinned girl lowered her head, her eyes focusing on her shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world. Her expression layered with a hint of sadness and worry but also a bit of annoyance, when she finally responded, she was almost pouting.

"He doesn't want to do it with me…" she mumbled, and Mahiru, now without juice in her lungs, looked at her friend with curiosity but also caution.

"Who is 'he'?" Akane whipped her head to face Mahiru and gave her a surprised expression like she just asked 'what is the color of the sky?' or 'is meat that tasty?'; things obvious.

"Makoto. Makoto Naegi, of course," Mahiru blinked slowly, once, then twice.

"Makoto Naegi? The Luckster of class 78?" Akane nodded with a grin showing her pearl white fangs. "_Wait so, Akane and Makoto are a couple...really? With him?_" She thought in disbelief. "_I mean he doesn't seem bad, much less creepy than our Luckster, that's for sure. He just seems so...puny for her._"

"Maybe he doesn't like me…" The redhead's train of thought was stopped in its tracks at the sad tone of those words. The view of her friend at the moment made her heart sink a little.

She was nervously fumbling with her fingers, gaze cast down and her eyes sad and watery. Now that Mahiru thought about it, they seem to hang out a lot lately, and every time they are laughing and smiling. Hell one time she saw how Akane shared food with the guy, AKANE OWARI! So... maybe the boy wasn't that bad, hell, she even remembers his name. It had taken a whole month for the girl to remember everyone's names in her class, and sometimes she still calls Sonia 'Sonic'. After a long sigh, the photographer put on her best smile.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, okay? Tell me what happened," she said, not knowing she would regret those words for the rest of her life…

** _/-/_ **

Akane started to tell the story. Yesterday they were hanging out like usual. After a heavy breakfast, they made their way to Makoto's room to watch some anime. They decided to watch DBZ because Akane likes the fights and Makoto is a normie. He was a little nervous to have a girl, and what a girl, in his room, but with a little bit of luck, everything would be alright…

Talking about Luck, the Ultimate Luck that several students possess, it can do crazy and amazing things, like using a meteor to stop a hostage situation in a plane, or a little more mundane, like making the Ultimate Gymnast trip on her own feet and fall forward, her instincts telling her to reach for something to grab and stop the fall, that something being the waistband of Makoto's pants. Sadly those clothes weren't made for such a purpose so they ended up falling to the ground with the woman grabbing them. The impact wasn't that bad, she had been hit worse by Sakura and Nekomaru, so Akane recovered quickly. It was at that moment she realized what she was holding, but she also noticed how there was a blue piece of cloth inside the pants, a pair of boxers to be specific. If someone were to enter the room right now they would see Akane on the ground and Makoto standing over her, half-naked.

** _/-/_ **

"WOWWOWOWOWHAT? That pervert! That's why the boys are the worst!'' Mahiru was fuming from pure rage and anger.

"But…it was my fault, I was the one who tripped." The dark-skinned girl said matter of factly.

"Well, yes, but...but he…" she sighed. "You are right, I'm sorry.'' She apologized, taking a minute to chill. _"I have to calm down. I know that I'm picky when it comes to boys, but if I don't take it down a notch, I'm gonna be like that Aikido girl from the new class._" she thought to herself.

"But it was a relief." Akane declared with a toothy grin, happiness radiating from her face. Suddenly a strange fear took hold of Mahiru's heart.

"I-it was?''

"For sure! I was worried at how little and scrawny he was no matter how much I feed him…'' she went on, giving Mahiru a bad feeling, but before she could say anything about it, her friend declared "But it's just that everything he eats goes to his front tail!"

If one were to listen carefully, they could hear the sound of crystal breaking inside of the photographer's head. "F-f-f-f-f-front t-t-t-t-t-" The poor girl couldn't speak the words, her cheeks getting a healthy blush while her mouth started to feel dry.

"Front tail.'' repeated the oblivious girl after seeing how her friend was having difficulties. "You know what those are right? How did Mikan call it…a 'pinis' or something? Anyway, you have seen one before right?''

"I…I…I…I…'' Mahiru stuttered, stuck in a loop "_No, no I never saw one! And it's Hajime's fault! Wait...why is it his fault again? Who cares!? Stupid Hajime!_" Seeing how Mahiru wasn't going to respond, the agile girl kept re-telling the story.

** _/-/_ **

Makoto was dressing again at great speed. He seemed pretty nervous and embarrassed about what happened and Akane feel bad about it as it was her fault, so she did the only logical thing to make him feel better: she took off her shirt and let it fall to the floor.

** _/-/_ **

"You aren't supposed to do that!" Mahiru interrupts again. She knew that Akane had a rough life and little common sense, but she should at least know that flashing an underclassman was too much, even if he was her boyfriend.

"But now we were even!" she argued. "I saw him half-naked, and he saw me half-naked, so it's just fair!" If Akane was more observant, she could see how Mahiru's eyes changed to black and white swirls for a second, her sanity draining.

Akane kept rambling about how cute he looked trying not to look and failing, saying that they could just hang out like that and that it was much comfier. But Makoto pleaded to her to put the shirt back on, so she just shrugged her shoulders and got dressed again.

_"Thank god one of the two has some decency…"_ the teenager close to a breakdown thought.

** _/-/_ **

After Makoto calmed himself a little, they proceeded with the original plan, setting everything ready and sitting on the bed. Akane positioned her body in her favorite position, hugging the Luckster from behind, her chin on the top of his head beside his ahoge, and chest against his back. She liked being the big spoon, she could feel his warmth sipping into her, and even if he was a little embarrassed, Makoto liked it too. They had a great time, making quips about the argument, cheering in the epic moments, and they even sang the opening and ending, and after that they just keep cuddling, a comfortable silence filling the room. Then Akane asked him if he wanted to 'do it' nonchalantly, a hand poking his ahoge. She knew that it was a bad sign of how Makoto stiffened in her embrace.

A second later, Makoto Naegi became a legend; the first teenager in the world that, when a girl asked if he wanted to have sex, he answered with 'Why?' She responded by saying that, when two people liked each other a lot they have sex, or so she heard from people. Makoto squirmed a little, not meeting her eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea…" At his words, one could see how Akane started to get nervous.

"But…I like you…you don't like me?" She asked, her tone filled with so much sadness that the boy couldn't help but look at her eyes and cup her cheek.

"Of course I do...a lot, but…" he said, leaving the girl to ask for an explanation, putting her hand on top of his.

** _/-/_ **

Mahiru didn't say anything. She had a feeling as to what Makoto's reasons were: he didn't want to take advantage of Akane's lack of prudence and common sense. A smile appeared on her lips. "He seems like a great guy." She was happy that her friend has someone like him at her side.

"He is…" Akane said, smiling as well, but hers was a sad one. "But…what if he is saying those things because he doesn't want to hurt my feelings?" Head low, the aura of positivity that always surrounded her was gone. "I don't know what to think."

"What is your gut telling you?" The redhead student asked. "Your gut feelings are always spot on. Do you feel that he is lying?"

"My gut feeling…" The gymnast put one hand on her belly, face scrunched in concentration. A minute passed before Akane looked at Mahiru and smiled. "Nope, he isn't"

"Well then, there you have it," Mahiru said, smiling back at her. "You two just need to talk about it and everything will be alright…unless you two did something weird at the end?" The girl asked, a hint of regret in her voice.

"Hehe~" Akane blushed a little and giggled. "We just cuddled together and fell asleep in his bed."

"Aaaaaaw~" Mahiru couldn't help but coo as she imagined such a sweet scene.

"But he was kinda weird in the morning"

"Nope, I don't want to know." She got up and dusted off her skirt, not wanting to know more about their romantic life. "Just don't worry about it, couples sometimes have these kinds of problems."

"What is a couple?"

"… Oh my God, you two aren't dating?" she asked incredulously.

"… I don't know."

"..." Mahiru wanted to walk away and ask someone to hit her in the head with a bat until she stopped thinking. She pinched the bridge of her nose, hard. ''Okay…a couple is when two people who like each other go on dates, they spend time together, they kiss and yes, eventually they have… sex." Akane was listening to Mahiru with all her attention, suddenly her eyes lit up and she jumped in the air as she stood up.

"We do most of those things! We can be a couple!" she exclaimed.

"Yes!" Hope shines once more in the photographer girl's eyes. "You just have to ask him about it."

"And then we can hug and kiss and have sex!" Akane said as she bounced on her heels.

"You know what? Sure, fuck him, fuck that boy until his pelvis is nothing more than fine dust…but please, use protection." she pleaded with a tired look on her face. This was the longest lunchtime she had ever experienced in her young life.

"Protection?" Akane blinked slowly before smiling. "Sure, I will wear knee pads!"

"Well, those can be useful…but I was talking about the other kind of…" But it was too late, as Akane had started running at high speeds, even doing some flips to demonstrate how happy she was. Mahiru just sighed and walked away, she needed a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, folks! I will be actually impressed if someone has reached this point, but if you did thank you! Maybe or maybe not I have some ideas for this story but let me warn you that this doesn't really have a plot.
> 
> Anyway, see ya!


	2. A Hungry Valentine’s Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentine's day can be a little messy when you can't find your loved one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone! First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind reviews, the follows and favorites. It blows my mind how much love this story has gotten in such a short time, ok maybe it isn't that much but for me, it means a lot.
> 
> So guess what? I'm continuing this!
> 
> I have a few ideas so I'm confident that I can keep this thing rolling for a while. First of them? A Valentine's Day story!... in October... because I'm dumb like that…
> 
> Anyway, this chapter has been revised and edited by the lovely TheLadyRedHeart, a million thanks to her.
> 
> Remember that I don't own Danganronpa.

The 14th of February, also known as Valentine's Day, a day to express love and affection to others, no matter what kind of love it is; fraternal, romantic, or sexual. Cynical people would tell you that is just a day made by the big corporations to make a profit out of people's feelings, but that is what 99% of corporations do, so who cares?

See, different regions have different ways to celebrate this day but most of it is about gifting your special someone with flowers, love cards and, the eternal classic, chocolate. In fact, that's what this story is about. In the halls of Hope's Peak Academy stands a young woman, her wild brunette hair flowing down her back and in her hands a box of chocolates the same color as her tanned skin.

In the place where Akane grew up, no one celebrated this day, hell the concept of just giving something to others just because "they liked them" was already unthinkable for most people there, but when she overheard her classmate Sonia Nevermind talk about it, the gymnast's interest was piqued. She then learned how, in Japan, girls give chocolate to the ones who they like. It was a little unfair that the girls don't get to have some chocolate for themselves, she thought.

"Such a lovely tradition, a maiden delivering her feelings in the form of a sweet treat!" The Ultimate Princess said with sparkles in her eyes. "Though in my country we also put some Makango powder in the chocolate."

"Weren't those things like…animals?" Akane wonders out loud but she just receives a giggle in response. But if Sonia was saying the truth, then she was in trouble, today was the 13th and she had nothing to give to her boyfriend! Granted, they haven't been a couple for too much time and she didn't know about Valentine's Day till today, so Makoto probably wouldn't care about it, but from what Sonia was saying, it's actually an important thing for couples to do. She wasn't going to give up just yet! Akane started to walk to Mahiru's seat. ''Hey Mahiru, I have a question for you!''

Everything happened really fast, from those words and the image of a waving Akane coming closer and closer, Mahiru's expression turned to one of pure horror before standing up so hard that she flipped the table and then ran away from the classroom at such a speed that the tanned girl was actually impressed.

"Huh…Someone has been training, but what's up with her?" Akane said as she scratched the back of her head. Now that she was in trouble without Mahiru, who was going to tell her what to do? The answer came in the form of a very excited Sonia.

"Fear not my lady friend! I have heard of your story by the plebeian art of gossip!" The princess said as she brought one of her royal hands to her chest and spoke proudly. "You need help choosing a gift for your beloved, yes?"

"Huh? I guess? I just want to know where to buy some nice chocolate." The gymnast tried to explain, but her blonde friend was in her own world.

"Just like the Japanese Drama 'Cover my heart in chocolate'! Oh, the romance! We will go to the city after class in our quest to acquire the tasty treat, and both of us will be 'the baddest bitches' in town"

"Y-yay?"

** _/-/_ **

After an epic quest, which consisted of going to a fancy store to buy some chocolate, and also an attempt to kidnap Sonia, leading to a car chase, which I'm sure no one wants to hear about, we found our heroine with the red box, ready to give it to the boy she loves. There is only a tiny little problem.

"Uuuugh, where is he?" She couldn't find him.

The first stop in her search for the short boy was an obvious one; the classroom of the 78th class. She peeked inside, sticking her head through the door. There were a few people inside, but none of them were Makoto. Some guys were sitting around a table playing cards, a pale girl with a strange outfit was drinking tea nonchalantly, and a skinny blonde guy was looking with disdain at a purple box a nervous girl was handing to him. He dumped it in a nearby trash can, a scowl on his face.

"What a jerk." Akane thought. "Such a waste of perfectly fine food!" Of course, she was mad about the chocolate being wasted and not about that girl's feelings, but said girl actually had a blissful expression on her face, even drooling a little…

Not really understanding the situation, she just shrugged and walked away. The next stop was his room, but after knocking and waiting for almost a minute, it was clear that no one was inside. If the boy wasn't in his class or in his room, maybe he was in the third place that he spends most of his time; in the infirmary. Akane walked at a fast pace to the medical room. Makoto tends to trip a lot and get hurt; he says that is because of his Ultimate Luck, but she just thinks that he is a little clumsy.

"Hellooooooo Mikan!" Akane announced herself in a loud manner, opening the sliding door with such force that one can hear it crack a little if you listen closely.

"Eeeeeeek!" The resident nurse yelped and jumped almost a feet in the air by the surprise. Startled, she turned around and calmed a little when she saw her classmate. "O-oh, Akane, it is you. D-did you have a stomach ache from overeating again?"

Now that is a funny story. Some time ago, there was an eating competition between classes with quite the prize money for the winner of it. A lot of students tried their stomach limits in it, but the favorites were Aoi Asahina, a person who looked a lot like Byakuya Togami, but way nicer and wider than him, and of course Akane Owari. There were tears, drool, and even some puke. In retrospect, all of it was kinda gross, but in the end, the gymnast bested all and got the prize money… along with a huge stomach ache that forced her to stay in the infirmary for hours. It wasn't all bad though, as Makoto stayed beside her, holding her hand while he rubbed circles in her bloated belly with the other. It was nice…

"Nah, it's not that, but I told you I could eat twice my weight in steak!" The wild woman declared triumphantly.

"I-I didn't say you couldn't, I said you shouldn't..." The shy nurse muttered in a shy tone while fidgeting with her fingers, pressing her two index fingers together.

"Whatever, have you seen Makoto?" She scanned the room. There were a few empty beds and cabinets full of medicine bottles, but no trace of the short boy.

"N-no. He hasn't been here all day." Mikan knew him for the times he came with some minor injury or bruise, seeking treatment. He never got mad or screamed at her when she messed up something or accidentally (?) flashed herself at him, so she considers him a good person. "Ah! I'm s-sorry that I don't know where he is! I'm such an u-useless person, please forgive meeeeeee~" Poor Mikan started to bawl, her eyes teary and scared.

"Hey now, stop that." She got closer and delivered some nice head pats to the nervous girl. To other people, this would be a breach of their personal space, but Mikan seemed to enjoy the attention. "It's not your fault, I just have to keep looking for him," Akane reassured her friend, even she knew that Mikan has a lot of problems and insecurities and that they wouldn't get fixed so easily, but being kind to others always help, or at least that's what a certain Luckster likes to say.

Akane was at her wits' end; she already went to all the places he tends to hang out and still not a trace of him! Normally this wouldn't be such a problem; she could just wait for the end of the classes and meet him in his room, there was just one problem…

_Grooooooowl_

"I'm hungry…" she put her hand on her rumbling belly, trying to calm it down.

It was not her fault. She only ate four rice bowls and six eggs in the morning, so of course, she was hungry. Not only had the girl been running all around the academy wasting energy, but to make things worse, she was clutching a box of chocolate in her hands. People who know about Akane can tell you that she tends to have scarce self-control and that goes double when it comes to food, her excellent sense of smell picking up the sweet scent of chocolate even through the box.

"Maybe I can take just one…" she said, wiping away some drool from her chin. "N-no, I can't do that!"

This was a special gift for him and she wasn't about to mess it up only because she couldn't control her appetite.

"Well, I can always let Makoto touch my boobs…" She pondered for a second before shaking her head and letting out a frustrated sigh, "Ugh, that's no good, he can do that whenever he wants!"

**Meanwhile in the 78th Classroom.**

"I don't know why, but suddenly I'm really angry and jealous of Makoto…" Leon Kuwata muttered with a scowl on his face and a bunch of cards in his hand.

"Huh? The little guy? He isn't even here dude." Yasuhiro said before looking at his cards, a smile on his face. "Now go fish!"

"We aren't playing that dumbass!" The gang leader angrily stated. "We are playing poker!"

"What? I thought that we were playing Yu Gi Oh!" Said the artist of the class, glancing sadly at the five parts of Exodia in his hand.

"Huuuuuuh..." The baseball star cleverly expressed while trying to hide the Uno cards he was about to use.

"You are all a bunch of buffoons and I hate you all." This time it was Byakuya who intervened in the conversation, his patience already non-existing.

**Back to Akane.**

"Oh~ so it is true that you and the twerp are a thing."

Akane turned around to face the one who talked about her lover in a not so kind manner. She found a girl with huge strawberry blonde pigtails and light blue eyes. The girl in question looked rather bored.

"Don't know what you see in the herbivore boy but whatever…" her bland expression quickly changed into a wide smile, sort of like a cat "Buuuuut if you are looking for him, maybe I can help."

"You do?" Akane's expression brightened, opting to ignore the kinda rude comments of the girl. "Thanks, you are a lifesaver…hum…" The dark-skinned lady tried to recall the name of the familiar woman in front of her, she knew that she was in Makoto's class and her name was something like… "Junk right?"

Junko lips tightened into a fine line for a second before changing back to her friendly expression. If she was being sincere, and Junko rarely was, she was getting tired of that stupid joke but no matter, she will soon have her fun.

"It's Junko dear," she said in a fake sweet tone. "I actually saw the ahoge boy in the back of the school with Sayaka.. and I'm sorry to tell you this but…" Junko covered her mouth with one of her manicured hands, trying to hide the devilish smile she was making right now. "Those two were actually kissing and touching each other everywhere."

"Oh." It was the only thing that Akane said in response to this information, her expression lacking any characteristic emotion. "You must be mistaking him with someone else then."

"_There it is, the negation that always ends in sweet Despair~,"_ Junko thought, almost tasting the glee of Despair. "But I'm sure it was them, I saw with these big beautiful eyes of mine." she changed to her 'cute' persona to reinforce her claim.

"Don't worry about it, everyone makes mistakes once in a while." Akane expressed in a carefree manner.

"...Huh?" Something was wrong here, Junko's analytical prowess was telling her so. "_This idiot isn't acting or in denial, she is just talking a matter of factly. What's going on?"_

"Hey, maybe it was Hajime; those two look like two drops of water from behind." The gymnast chuckled a little, remembering a time she mistook them, even if the height difference should be a dead giveaway. "I didn't know those two were a thing, what a rare pair haha." Akane doesn't know what irony is.

"Wait a second." The fashionista mask was beginning to crack, her gaze getting colder. "What's with that attitude? How come you believe such a dumb possibility instead of what I'm telling you?"

"Well, that's easy. See, one time I asked him if he liked some other girl and he told me that he only loves me." Akane declared proudly, a hint of pink in her cheeks "So Makoto can't be smooching other girls."

Junko's face was totally blank except for her light blue eyes that had a dark aura to them. This girl could not be that naive and stupid, she had to be making fun of her somehow.

"That's IT? He just tells you something and you believe him?" A frown was appearing in the perfect face of the young model.

Akane looked puzzled by the things Junko was saying. "Well, of course, I believe him. Makoto has never lied to me, so why would I not believe him?"

"Because that's what boys do! They sweet talk to you until they get what they want and then they repeat the same with other girls. You can't just trust them." The despair lover was losing her composure by the second; she refused to believe that someone so stupid exists.

"But that's what couples do." The girl's face was serene and soft while she talked. "They trust each other no matter what, otherwise it would be impossible to be together or believe in their love." She looked at Junko with a bit of pity. "Sounds like you had some bad experiences, but don't worry, I'm sure you will find someone nice Junk-O."

"_THAT'S IT!" _She had enough, enough of this idiot, enough of her sappy love, enough of her stupid trust and ENOUGH. OF. THAT. STUPID. JOKE. Junko stepped forward, raising a finger in a threatening manner. "You listen to me, you air-head bimb-"

"That's enough Junko."

A calm but familiar voice stopped Junko's rambling before things could get heated. The blonde turned to see the Ultimate Soldier, Mukuro Ikusaba, calmly walking toward them. She was also her sister but that's not that important if you ask Junko.

"Please forgive my big sister, she tends to take her jokes too far." Mukuro Ikusaba, the 16th student of class 78th, the one they call the Ultimate Soldier, was now standing beside her little sister, who looked rather tense. "If you are looking for Makoto, I saw him and Gonta walking together into the Entomologist lab."

"Really!?" The girl's face beamed with pure happiness. "Thank you Mukuro, we should have a fight sometime!" Akane was already speeding away from the pair of sisters while shouting that.

"..." Junko was glaring daggers at her big sister, eyes full of darkness and malice… before they came back to being bored and giving her a look of disappointment. "And why exactly did you that Muku-nee? I was doing it for you, so you could make a move on that midget you have a crush on. Seriously why the fuck is he so popular?"

Mukuro didn't respond immediately to her sister, she just kept waving goodbye to the running girl until she disappeared behind a corner. Once out of sight the dark-haired girl let out a sigh before looking at her problematic little sister.

"I did have...feelings for him…still do…" The one-woman army grasped softly the hem of her white shirt, a small smile on her lips. "You are gonna laugh at me for what I'm about to say but…I think loving someone is wanting to see them smile and…" she grabbed her shirt a little bit tighter. "He smiles the brightest when they are together, so I'm really happy for them."

"Well you were wrong in one thing, I don't want to laugh…I wanna puke!" The fashionista loudly declared without shame. "Why is this school full of sappy idiots? Ugh, you were bad enough already, you ugly, stinky, fat big sister!"

Mukuro didn't respond to the barrage of insults that her sister delivered, she just stood there with her head low and a sad smile on her lips. Such a sad face suddenly turned into a surprised one when Mukuro was placed into a one-arm hug by Junko. She tried to see her little sister's face but it was hard to do in that position.

"C'mon let's just go eat some ice cream or whatever." Junko starts dragging her sister along, who was surprisingly strong despite her looks. "It's not entertaining if you don't react…"

"Junko…" The soldier smiled, a genuine one this time. "Thanks." The strange pair of sisters had a nice day together.

The door of the Entomologist lab smashed loudly against the wall when a certain woman decided to kick it open. The huntress's eyes scanned the bug-filled room until they locked on her prey, and before Makoto could understand what was going on, someone had already tackled him into a hug that sent both of them rolling to the floor.

"Ugh my ribs, I feel like I was run over by a bus," he said as he blinked several times to clear his blurry vision. He also had to look up to meet the eyes of his 'attacker'. "Akane?"

"Makoto!" the girl in question was currently in an interesting position, while Makoto was laying down she was straddling his hips and waist, a toothy grin on her face. "I been searching for you everywhere, you know? But it doesn't matter now because I found you!" Akane was ecstatic to reunite with the boy once again, the wild gymnast was so happy that she even started to bounce up and down on top of him.

"I-I get it b-but please A-Akane just g-get up..." Makoto pleaded with a scarlet red face. Apparently having your voluptuous girlfriend bouncing on your lap was too much of a stimulus for the teen.

"Hmmm? Why?" The girl stopped her movement to look down at the boy, innocence in her face. When Akane sensed another presence in the room she moved her head to meet said person. "Oh, hi! You are that Gon guy right?"

"Gonta not know about this Gon person, Gonta's name is Gonta Gokuhara." The goliath of a man happily introduced himself. He wore a brown suit with a green tie that hugged tightly his muscular frame, and little circular glasses adorned his mature face. Gonta's body and presence could be intimidating but he acted in a friendly manner to everyone. "Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Akane Owari, nice to meet you too Goku." she turned around and raise to her feet, ignoring Gonta's troubled expression about his name, and helped Makoto up. "But what were you doing here together?"

"Well, that's because-"

"Makoto was teaching Gonta how to be gentleman!" The hulking teen states. "Being gentleman is Gonta's goal."

"Gentleman?"

"Just, let me explain." The shorter of the three cleared his throat.

**Earlier in the day.**

"C'mon dude spill the beans!" Leon was holding Makoto into a one-armed hug, although with how much strength he was using, one could think that the athlete was trying to choke the luckster… and maybe he was a little.

"Guh…I can't do that…"

They were currently on a break, classes had ended for now, and some of the students were relaxing in the halls. Leon decided to try and convince Makoto to share the 'juicy details' of his relationship with the older girl; the luckster was pretty adamant about not sharing them though. Finally, he broke free, rubbing his neck with a hand.

"Knock it off Leon, you know that a gentleman doesn't talk about those things."

"Gentleman?" A new voice joined the conversation. The two classmates turned to see a giant at their side.

"Hum, can we help you, dude?" Leon asked, sweating a little.

"You gentleman?" the muscular boy asked, ignoring the words of the redhead and leaned closer to Makoto, still towering over him.

" W-well…" The ahoge teen was a little intimidated right now, sure he was used to being with tall and muscular people thanks to Sakura and Nidai, they both were really nice and kind people, but that didn't mean that every mass of muscle was like them. Still, he tried to be polite. "I do know some things about manners."

"Wonderful!" The face of the suit-clad stranger lit up with a smile, the tension in the air melting. "Please help Gonta with the secrets of manners!"

"Gonta? Is that your name? I don't really mind helping you when I have some free tiiIIIIMEEEE?" Makoto couldn't help to raise his voice when Gonta grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall at great speed. He wasn't mad at the younger boy though, Gonta was just really excited.

"...The fuck just happened?" Leon was left alone in the hallway, a dumbfounded expression in his face that turned into annoyance after a few seconds. "Tsk, what a tight ass he can be, it's not like sharing those things is such a big deal."

"Comments like that are why you don't have a girlfriend." Sayaka deadpanned while passing him in the hall, not even sparing a glance away from her phone. The baseball star wanted to retaliate, but he was afraid that his voice would crack from the embarrassment.

In the Entomology lab, the two 'gentlemen' were having a good time. Makoto was teaching Gonta basic manners: chewing with your mouth closed, holding the doors for others, giving your seat on the train or bus to elders or pregnant women, not shoving bugs in people's faces, wearing shoes and maybe the most important of all, not dragging people like they were rag dolls.

Gonta learned a lot.

"And that's the story. Sorry that you had to search for me." The boy apologized, even if it wasn't really his fault.

"Don't care! Have this!" Akane shoved something unceremoniously into Makoto's arms, strongly enough to get a little 'oof' out of him.

"What is this?" he looked down to the object now in his hands, hazel eyes widening at the sight of a red-colored box in the shape of a heart. The only chocolate that the luckster received on Valentine's day was always from his mother and little sister, so he was happily surprised about the gift from his girlfriend and it showed in the light blush on his cheeks. "Akane I… Thank you for th-"

"Yeah yeah, just eat it already!"

Makoto frowned at this, he knew that his girlfriend could be a little blunt at times, but now she was just being a little rude. He gazed up to talk to her about it but instead, he got quite the strange scene in front of him, the girl in question had intense and hungry eyes, both of them focused in the box of treats. Drool was running down her chin profusely, some drops of it landing into her chest and sliding deeper into her cleav-EYES UP BOY!

"It was for you so I didn't eat it, not even one bite." She said as she put a hand on her stomach to stop the rumbling.

"..." After focusing again, he opened the box, a row of fancy-looking chocolate pieces inside, and offered it to the girl. "Here, have some."

The tanned girl shoots forward before stopping herself. "I can't, those are yours…"

Makoto chuckled. "You wanting to give them to make already means a lot to me...besides there is no rule against sharing them." He shakes the box a little a bright smile on his lips.

The box disappeared from the luckster's hands like it was never there, to begin with. The gymnast was wolfing down the contents like she had been starving for days, and in less than a minute she was done. Makoto didn't bother to tell her how he actually didn't get to eat not even one of them, for he didn't care anyway, because making her happy was good enough...but sometimes good actions are rewarded.

Grabbing the neck of his shirt, Akane pulled him into a long, loving kiss. His eyes shoot wide open and his cheeks turned pink. It wasn't the first kiss they shared, but Makoto found it hard to get used to such an amazing sensation. Akane's eyes were closed, she was simply enjoying the moment. After a while they broke apart to breathe, his tongue instinctively ran along his own lips, which tasted like sweet chocolate.

"Hehehe, I like this Valentine thing," she said, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Y-yeah, me too…"

"Kinda unfair that only the boys get chocolates. I bet that Mahiru thinks the same." Akane pointed out, pouting a little.

"Huh? Don't you know about the White day?" The answer came in the form of a tilted head and curious eyes. "You see, a month from now there is something called White Day, which is when the boys have to give the girls a gift to 'return the favor' for the Valentine's one. Usually, it is something two or three times more valuable than the girl's gift."

She let out a gasp. "That means that you have to give me six boxes of chocolate!"

"That's six times what you gave me!" he said, ignoring the fact that he didn't get any chocolate at the end.

"Excuse me…" The forgotten entomologist talked in a timid tone, observing the whole thing with a mild blush, not knowing if he could intervene in the conversation, but his growing curiosity pushed his embarrassment aside. "If you were looking for Makoto why not call his phone?"

"..."

"...Hahaha, you are right! I forgot!" She let out a loud and hearty laugh while the ahoge boy just sighed behind her, a small smile on his lips.

Next month, Akane got 6 boxes of white chocolate and Makoto received a lot of chocolate-flavored kisses.

**Omake:**

"Stupid ball...where are you?" Even with all his complaints about how much he hates baseball, he still plays it from time to time for fun, claiming that he is gonna make it big in the music industry. Now he was just searching for a lost ball in the back of the dorms. "It has to be close."

"Ah~"

"W-what was…"

"Mnngh ah~"

Following the source of the sound, the wannabe punk looked up to an open window of one of the dorms. It was true that those rooms were soundproof, thanks to Ibuki, but it didn't work so well when you leave the door or window open.

"T-that's Makoto's room...but those noises." Leon shook his head. "N-no it can't be!"

"M-makoto~" A feminine voice mewled. "That's the spot… ah~... ha-harder!"

Leon started to run away from such suggestive sounds with tears in his eyes, cursing under his breath. "Lucky bastard!"

The scene in the 'Lucky bastard's' room wasn't exactly as his classmate imagined. Akane was laying on the bed without a shirt, body upside down so her breasts were pressing against the mattress giving quite the display of side-boob. Her face was red, a bit of drool down her chin, and her breathing was ragged, still, she looked content and relaxed.

"Y-you really like massages." Makoto was cleaning his hands with a towel, a light blush on his cheeks from the sounds he got out of her. "It's good that Nidai taught me how to do them, now I can help you with-" His voice died in his mouth upon the sensation of two soft things against his back and a pair of slender but strong hands on his chest. "A-Akane? What are you…" The only response he got was a low purr in his ear and the hands going lower and lower down his body. "Oh…"

This time they remembered to close the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, folks!
> 
> Jesus this was even longer than the last one and it wasn't my intention at all. I hope that you got a few laughs, and maybe even feels, out of this whacky chapter.
> 
> I wanted to put some subtle details in this (like Akane sometimes talking a little like Makoto) and a lot of bad jokes.
> 
> Sometimes I will make an Omake like the one in this chapter. They are ideas that I don't really know how to make into stories, dumb gags, or things to spicy for this story...for now...
> 
> Also, I want you to know that I don't hate Leon at all…but I find it funny when he suffers.
> 
> Leave a review if you want, because it's one of the few things keeping me alive.
> 
> See ya!


	3. Reactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while since last time huh? With a bit of luck, you still aren't bored of my crazy ideas.
> 
> Today I bring you another chapter of this whacky story, this one is EXTREMELY long, the longest of the three in fact. You see, one of you wanted to see the reaction of the two classes to the strange couple and I, being the nice guy I am, decided to make that wish come true…I regretted it immediately.
> 
> Who knew that writing the unique reactions of 30 characters was that hard? Someone with a bit of foresight and a functional brain that's who.
> 
> But let's stop crying, the chapter is done and I think it came out pretty well, so I hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> Buuuut before that I have to give my thanks to Wesst1 for giving me a shout out to this fic in the last chapter of "Everyday Life with Ultimate Girls". Thanks a bunch and hope you enjoy your break, you deserve it.
> 
> In the meantime, you can check, "The Conquering Hope: Monochromatic Path" a fic made by Putain de Plagieur with the help of Wesst1.
> 
> One last thing, I'm gonna add a basic timeline of the chapters (the most left ones being the closest to the start of the story) so you guys can place things in perspective. Maybe you find that some events of the chapters conflict with some others or don't make too much sense, there is an explanation to it…a wizard did it.
> 
> My beta-readers for this chapter had been TheLadyRedHeart and BlueBoxy.
> 
> Timeline
> 
> 1<3<2

Hope's Peak Academy was a place full of strange and bizarre people with even more questionable practices. Even so, they still did normal high-school stuff; one of them being that every class should pick a class representative. It wasn't a demanding job, the only things they did were helping the teacher delivering some documents, informing the class about events, and trying to keep them out of trouble; that last part was easier said than done.

Today the atmosphere in class 78th was as any other day; that meant chaotic and very loud because everyone was doing their own thing.

Mondo and Taka were having a "Manliness test" in the form of arm wrestling, both with red faces and grunting while Chihiro watched the show spellbound.

Byakuya and Kyoko were having a nice and quiet game of chess, if not for the fact that Toko was mumbling to herself and biting her thumb with fury while watching them.

Hifumi looked like he was texting someone on his phone and being quite giddy while doing so.

Hina and Sakura were having a friendly scuffle; for some reason, the swimmer was determined to put a cat-shaped hair clip in her best friend's air but the martial artist was blocking every attempt that the tanned girl made.

Celeste was polishing her strange metal finger claw item that she definitely didn't buy at Warm Subject, no matter how many times Leon swears that he saw her in the shop.

Talking about everyone's punching bag, he was holding a hand mirror in front of his face intending to make his goatee 'just right'.

Unlike him, Sayaka was doing something with meaning. The pop sensation was working on the lyrics of a new song for her Idol group, several crumpled papers on top of her normally clean desk.

The class troublemaker, Junko Enoshima, was bored out of her mind, feet on top of her desk while balancing herself in the chair, her big sister Mukuro diligently working on the homework assigned to them.

Hiro was…does anyone actually care what he is doing? Anyway, he was unpacking a new set of Tarot cards that the seller assured belonged to a hundred-year-old vampire that lived in Egypt. The clairvoyant didn't even think about why a vampire would be in Egypt.

Makoto Naegi, the last class member of the group, was standing by the door, talking to someone from the 77th class in a happy manner.

"So yeah, Chiaki asked me to bring you these because she is helping fix a wall in our class." The student said as she raised a stack of papers in her hands.

"Were you involved in the destruction of that wall?"

"...M-maybe just a little." The young girl laughed a little while looking away.

"I see…" Makoto deadpanned and took the papers in his own hands. "You should go back and help them." The boy reprimanded the girl, but with a kind tone that made him sound like a dad.

"Yeah…we are totally gonna have lunch later right?"

The luckster let out a sigh, but it wasn't one of annoyance or resignation if the smile on his face was anything to go by. "Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Great! See you later then!"

The shorter boy had to stand on his toes a little, and the girl had to bend her knees, but even if it was a little bit of an awkward position, it was worth it when their lips met each other. It was a short peck on the lips so Makoto and Akane parted away quickly and went to their respective classes. The representative of class 78 walked to the teacher's desk to leave the papers.

"For a school that rarely does exams and in which attending class is optional, the teachers sure get a lot of paperwork…"

Mumbling to himself, Makoto made his way through the silent class… "Wait a second, something isn't right...it's quiet, too quie-"

Makoto's cliche line was interrupted by a flurry of voices and people chaotically coming his way. He covered his face in fear of getting attacked for some reason but the only thing that hit him was a chaos of voices and questions that he couldn't understand.

"G-guys chill! I don't understand what you are saying, what's wrong?"

"Traitor! You are a traitor to our brotherhood!" Leon rambled, a few tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"What?"

"I must say that this is a surprise, though in hindsight it was clear." The detective muttered to herself, a gloved hand in her chin and an expression of deep concentration on her pale face.

"That's not an answer…"

"Holy shit I was right! 30% accuracy baby!" For his part, Hiro was just laughing like a mad man, and close to him, Celeste looked…displeased.

"ENOUGH!" Makoto's hand slammed against the teacher's desk with maybe too much force by how the boy bit his lower lip for a second, but it was effective to bring silence to the loud room. "You will start to make sense now! What is this all about?"

No one talked for a full minute, maybe because they were intimidated by the sudden burst of assertiveness that Makoto displayed, or because they really didn't know where to start. Finally, a soft and meek voice broke the silence.

"Why didn't you tell us that you have a girlfriend, Makoto?" The tiny programmer asked with curiosity and a tad of hurt on his face.

The ahoge boy blinked once, then twice._ "What are they talking about? I told them when…oh…"_ Never, he actually didn't tell his friends about the blooming relationship between Akane and him...well ain't that something?

"You forgot, didn't you?" It was a question but the lavender haired detective already knew the answer, the same went for the rest of the class when Makoto gave a sheepish smile and scratched his cheek like he does when he is nervous.

"I suspected as much after all Makoto lies tend to be...rather horrible." At first, Celeste thought for a nice way to put it but the gothic lolita deemed that it wasn't worth the effort.

"C'mon I'm not that bad at lying."

"In fact, I would say that he couldn't even deceive a little kid with those pathetic lies of his." Even with her fake smile in place not even the Queen of Liars could mask that she was pissed as hell.

"Don't mind her dude, she is just mad because I actually won our bet hahaha!" The laugh of the local clairvoyant was cut short when Celeste metal claw found a cozy place for itself between his lungs. Hiro's face going the same color as her attacker's.

The Luckster's eyebrows arched in disbelief, Celestia Ludenberg held with pride her title of Ultimate Gambler defending it with claws and teeth if necessary, so for someone to win a bet against her was pretty hard to believe. If we add that, it was Yasuhiro who bested her then it was just preposterous, his scummy friend picked up those doubts and tried to defend his claim.

"N-No dude _cough_ I'm serious for real! See the other day a prediction came to me man."

"Ah yes, one of your predictions…" It took all of Makoto's will to not roll his eyes at that. Yasuhiro talent was, like all of his persona, sketchy at best for it only worked 30% of the time, so the older student decided that it was a good idea to try his chances against a master gambler. Well, in the end, they could not laugh or insult him for he actually pulled through with a correct prediction, this picked the ahoge teen's interest, after all, it seemed like it was one related to him. "So what was the prediction?"

The supernova straightened his back and rubbed his hairy chin with pride. "I saw it with absolute clarity! You were acting all lovey-dovey with an amazon warrior!"

Makoto opened his mouth to tell him of stupid that was, then he closed it because technically Hiro was right. He opened his mouth again to argue the idea of Akane being a wild amazon warrior, and then he closed it again because Celestia already told him that his lies were really bad. The teen also pushed the image of his girlfriend wearing a tribal outfit to the depths of his mind...for later.

"Anyway, I'm not even a tad faced by this, since this bet didn't count." Hands placed under the chin in an attempt to look cute and innocent of the gambler.

The older teen glanced at her with his semi-permanent expression of confusion. "Huh? But I totally won, so why?"

"Because I said so." Those words were so natural and devoid of emotion that it was clearly the end of the conversation.

"That's not a reason!" Then again Hiro was an idiot.

"IF I SAY THAT IT DOESN'T COUNT THAT'S ALL THE REASON YOU NEED, YOU STUPID SEA URCHIN!"

It was hard to get used to those flips on Celeste's personality, one moment she was this calm and manipulative girl and the other she drops the mask, becoming this banshee of rage. By now, everyone knew better than intervene when she was like this, the best course of action is to leave the poor sod at her mercy. At that moment someone pulled Makoto away from that mess of a conversation.

"So you two are an item?" Mondo wondered out loud crossing his muscular arms over his similar muscular chest. "I don't want to be rude but you are so...and she is so...you know?"

"You truly have a way with words Mondo." Makoto deadpanned, but he did know what he meant, it was something that everyone thinks at least once while being in a relationship.

"Y-you are o-one to talk." Intervened the familiar stuttering voice of Toko Fukawa, usually, when she entered a conversation it was just to drop some insult to one of the parties or even both. "B-before criticizing others why don't you get a d-date first?"

"What did you say!?" The biker roared with so much strength that even his pompadour bounced around, Toko squirming behind her 'Master' who didn't appreciate the proximity with the literary girl.

"Keep your calm, Bro" The steady hand of Ishimaru met the biker's shoulder. "I'm sure soon enough you will find someone to spend the rest of your life with!" The teen with the thickest eyebrows reassured in his booming voice.

"You...you think so Bro?"

"I know so Bro"

"Bro…"

"Bro…"

They keep staring into each other's eyes in a comfortable silence like Bros do. Sensing that the danger passed the gloomy girl left her hiding spot, which he was glad for, and turned to the focus of the class attention with a shaky smile.

"S-so that's your t-type huh? What, did you got r-rejected by the idiot swimmer so y-you tried with the older version?"

"H-hey I didn't reject him." Aoi Asahina jumped into the fray, a light blush on her cheeks. "Also Akane and I are totally different characters!" The tanned, athletic, curvaceous, brunette girl that loves food said about the tanned, athletic, curvaceous, brunette girl that loves food, from the other class.

"We know Hina, don't worry yourself." Her best friend Sakura managed to calm the donut lover with a kind smile. "And we also are happy for you Makoto, finding someone to love is quite the fortunate thing." She kept her friendly smile but one could see a few hints of sadness and yearning on it, no doubt that the martial artist was remembering some bittersweet memories.

"Yeah, don't listen to the downers, you two look really cute together." This time was the turn to his old friend Sayaka to give her two cents. "I'm a little hurt though, here I was thinking that we were old friends." She pouted with practiced skill, Makoto just chuckled a little already knowing the antics of the idol.

"Is not really such a surprise, after all, Mr. Naegi has a lot of the qualities of the protagonists in the series harem." The connoisseur of anime Hifumi Yamada was one of the last few to chip in, however, the spiky-haired teen wasn't sure if what he said was a compliment. After all, Hifumi always said that those characters were bland and devoid of personality.

Luckily, not all of his classmates were on his back trying to pry for information. Leon was muttering something under his breath in a corner, a threatening aura around him. From her part, Kyoko had her pale chin against a pair of gloved fingers as a sign of deep concentration, wondering if her detective senses were dull for not noticing something like this.

"You commoners find entertainment in the most vulgar things." The class was missing the rude comments of Byakuya Togami, well they weren't really 'missing' them, more like 'expecting', after all, everyone had to know what the Ultimate Heir thought about anything, or at least that was the blonde believed. "I must say, I expected you to have better taste." He said with an arrogant smirk on his punchable face. "But I guess that a dimwitted woman suits you well enough."

"Hey, guys did I ever tell you that one time when Byakuya dressed as a woman?" Makoto shared with the rest of his classmates, the smile on his face unnaturally sweet.

In an instant the whole class started to laugh at different volumes, except Toko who had some drool streaming down her mouth, eyes glazed and mind busy in her fantasies. The Ultimate Affluent Progeny blushed so hard that one could think that every single blood vessel in his face erupted at once. Stomping his way closer to the Luckster, Byakuya whispered in a tone between rage and embarrassment.

"You promised not to tell anyone about that."

"And you promised not to be an ass." He turned around, that unsettling smile still in place. "But I guess we both failed, next time we will do better...right?"

If Byakuya didn't know Makoto so well, he could swear the luckster just threatened him but surely it was just his imagination...cleaning some sweat from his forehead the tall teen sat back down on his chair. The creepiness of the ahoge boy was dispersed when he felt someone tugging at his hoodie, turning his hazel eyes to the source Makoto saw that it was Chihiro.

"And how did you two meet each other?" The question was full of curiosity and wonder, the respect that the even shorter boy felt for Makoto increased tenfold after such revelation.

He took a moment to respond, his expression changing into a soft smile that always surfaced when remembering such fond memories. "Well, it's quite the story see I was…"

Close to the groups were the last two members of the class, the twins that didn't look alike, Junko and Mukuro.

"Well, dye my hair red and call me Ryoko because I for sure didn't see this shit coming" The fashionista actually spoke with genuine surprise, which was pretty rare for her to be. "Hey, hey Muku, doesn't that girl have super bad taste?... Mukuro?"

The soldier was just staring at space, frozen like she wasn't breathing, the mechanical pencil in her hand was bent and broken. After a few slow blinks, the raven-haired teen's mind started working again.

"Huh?... S-sorry did you say something?" She let the pen fall on her desk, smashed and mangled, kinda like her heart right now.

"...Are you okay?" Junko didn't need to ask that question, the answer was clear for someone with talents like hers but something compelled the blonde to voice it anyway.

"Y-yeah just... a bit surprised, that's all" The poor girl swallowed with some effort, face a bit more pale than usual as she glanced at the boy talking with a smile on his face. "He seems happy...that's good"

"Hmmm." The only response of the big sister was a low hum.

"And that's the whole story, sorry if it wasn't too dramat-ouch!" The hoodie wearer got interrupted by a smack to the back of the head delivered by Junko. "What the…what was that for Junko?"

"You were too happy." Was her response along with a shrug of her shoulders, bored expression in place.

As usual, the fashionista made no sense in her words or actions, every time both of them interacted with each other the boy was usually the one with a headache, so he decided to just let this one go.

The booming voice of the glorified hall monitor drew everyone's attention to himself even if he was only talking to one person in particular. "Yes! Finding someone to share your feelings and dreams is a beautiful thing but remember to never neglect your studies!" His laugh was as loud as his normal way of speaking. "Of course I don't have to remind you that both of you are still in high school so you won't be doing any lascivious activities, right?"

"Of course not! We wouldn't do anything like that in school!"

Now more calm, Celeste was silently giggling to herself with a hand on her mouth. Makoto was really bad at lying.

Turning back the clock a few minutes we saw the farewell of the two lovers but this time from another point of view. The point of view of a loud girl with a lot of metal on her face and even more energy on her body, proof of it was how she was trembling in place, like some kind of...vibrating device, for how excited she was.

"Ibuki has discovered a huge scoop!"

**/-/**

The classroom 77-B was quite the mess, desks were toppled over, dust was on the floor and it was hard to ignore a massive hole in the wall, but at least now the class had a lot of natural light so it wasn't all bad. Sadly the school regulations had these silly rules against structural weaknesses so the students were forced to clean their own mess, not all of them were happy about it of course.

"Ugh, why do I have to help clean? It's all because of those two muscle-bound idiots." That whine came from the class bully Hiyoko Saionji that, for all her complaints, was just moving dust from side to side with a broom, not helping at all.

"HAHAHAHAHA my apologies! Sometimes I let my team manager spirit run wild!" Said one of the culprits of the whole incident, although, for the way Nekomaru was laughing and smiling, it was hard to know if he was actually sorry.

The rest of the group just groaned and kept on working boarding up the hole or cleaning the place, Kazuichi trembled a bit when he saw Nekomaru nailing one of the wooden planks using only a finger. Work was going at a pretty good pace so they should finish it before lunchtime, or that would be the case if an interruption in the form of Ibuki Mioda didn't just kick the door open. The list of things to repair got a bit longer.

"Guys, holy guitars! Ibuki has big news! Almost as big as the love of guys for thighs!" The random intruder randomly declared, hopping closer to the group, her foot hurt.

"Hmmm, ~ must be something very big then and speaking of big things I-" Luckily for the sanity of all the people in the room Ibuki stopped the walking innuendo that was Teruteru.

"No time for inappropriate comments! Ibuki has to spill the beans before Akane gets here!"

"Why?" Said idly the above-mentioned girl, she was trying to do the same as Nekomaru and nail the planks with her fingers but it was a tad hard and had to settle by using the palm of her hand, still a fairly impressive feat

"Well, it's because... Whaaaaaaaaaat? Akane is already here? How can this be possible, did you use a secret passage to get here before Ibuki?"

It was that...or maybe the fact that the rocker girl was so excited about this new piece of gossip that she literally got lost in the school that she has been living for more than a year, resorting to kicking open the door of every classroom until Ibuki found the correct one. In any case, she would soon be serving some nice time in detention for that.

"Hey walking seizure, if you are done not making any sense maybe you can tell us those 'big news' of yours." The small yakuza was already losing his even smaller patience.

"Oh? Yeah yeah, Ibuki almost forgot from the shock." The girl straightened her posture and cleared her talented throat, trying to give all of this an air of importance. "Is weird because Akane is here but, what Ibuki saw was…"

"..."

"..."

"...TELL US ALREADY!"

"Jeez just trying to give it a bit of dramatism, baby gangsta." She pouted but that only made her look even cuter. "But fine, I saw Akane and Makoto kiss, on the lips!"

"...Who?"

Their reaction, or lack of it, wasn't strange after all they barely knew the guy. The only interactions they had were a few polite words of courtesy when they bumped into the halls and the boy wasn't that remarkable in appearance anyway. Still, Ibuki wasn't happy with it, she wanted gasps, surprise, drama! Instead, she got confused faces, she won't stand for this.

"Ugh~ you know, small, always wears a hoodie even in summer, has an ahoge, kinda like Hajime but cute!"

"I take offense to that." Hajime was actually there wielding a hammer and a frown. He wasn't truly a member of the class or even an Ultimate for that matter. Hajime Hinata was what the school called a 'Reserve Course' student, well actually the high ups called them 'suckers with money' but they were happier not knowing that. Now however he was offended by Ibuki's words. "I'm also cute…"

After a few seconds of contemplation, some of their faces lit up with the image of that person's face. One of them, however, fell a tad hurt for being kept in the dark about such a relationship, she bent over a bit to put her hands on her knees and spoke to Akane who was still sitting on the ground like this had nothing to do with her.

Sonia's voice was soft but with a tad of concern mixed in it. "Dear friend Akane, why didn't you tell us about such a wondrous event? I thought that girls' friends shared that kind of thing to deepen their bonds of friendship and girliness." Those ideas came from her 'investigations' of Japanese drama and anime.

Akane raised an eyebrow, her friend had a tendency to use strange words while talking but the wild girl understood well enough. "Well, you guys didn't ask." And there it was, the oldest answer in the book and no one could argue about it, with a puzzled look she scratched the back of her ear. "You aren't angry or anything, right? Mahiru knew about it but didn't say anything either."

Several pairs of multi-colored eyes landed in the above-mentioned girl, some with curiosity, others with an inquisitive glance but after a second all of them changed into a look of worry. A minute ago Mahiru was her usual self chastising the boys for tiny or silly mistakes, maybe she was a bit tough on them but only because the redhead knew that they could do better. Now however she looked very tired, like a rush of very tiring and annoying memories resurfaced from the depths of her mind.

"Sorry guys...It wasn't my place to talk about it." That was a blatant lie, of course, she simply didn't want to remember such a traumatic event but Mahiru had to keep her mature image.

Everyone ate that lie like it was one of Hanamura dishes and their attention was once more fixated on the tanned girl of the 77-B class, which was yawning like she wasn't part of the conversation. Most of them weren't even that big on gossip but still, this was a topic too juicy to let go...besides they were sick of working on that demolished wall.

The first one to talk about it was the mini-Yakuza leader. "You know I actually know who he is now." The two short teens met a few weeks ago, Fuyuhiko's sweet tooth was acting up today and had a craving for some sweets. The problem was that Yakuza members had an image to maintain and that goes double for him, and his face must have shown his distress as an underclassman walked up to him with a bag of Karintō in hand. That underclassman was, of course, Makoto Naegi that a few minutes ago won a bag of sweets in a weird lottery event at the cafeteria, it was one of the lower prizes but just what the suit-clad student needed right now. The brunette kindly offered it the sweet treat to him and he accepted, right after a quick threat about if the luckster told someone about this his body would be found in the trunk of an abandoned car. Makoto took it fairly well, being surrounded by Ultimates all the time made him somewhat numb to danger. "Must say, I didn't expect the boy to have such cojones, to be with someone like you."

"Maybe you should take notes…" A soft feminine voice muttered, not enough to be heard clearly.

"Huh? Did you say something Peko?"

"Nothing young mas-Fuyuhiko." That was close, the swordswoman almost spilled out the secret relationship between the girl and her master. Just a slip of the tongue, like those words earlier. Peko was a serious and level headed girl, she definitely wasn't envious of Akane for scoring a small boyfriend in only a few months when she tried for years without success...that would be crazy…

"Tsk, are we sure that this is not some kind of convoluted joke? Who is gonna date such a tomboy with a skull full of meat?" She had an evil smirk while saying those hurtful words but it was nothing new for the traditional dancer.

"Hiyoko! Don't say such mean things." The mom of the group was quick to intervene, pulling the ear of the kimono wearer.

While Hiyoko was yelping in pain Akane got up, she stretched a bit before speaking with a half-smile. "Eh, I don't mind. She is saying those things because no one has really loved her before."

Because of the way the dancer clutched the left side of her chest and how she had such a pained expression on her young face a few of the teens thought that she was having a heart attack. It wasn't such a thing but Akane's words sure pierced Hyoko's heart like the spear Gungnir, the fact that the tone of the gymnast was free of any ill intention just made them even more painful. She was so distracted by it that she even forgot to bully her favorite victim when the shy girl had the nerve of correcting her.

"B-besides the human skull is always full of meat because of the b-brain." Mikan closed her eyes waiting for an insult that never came, opening them she decided to speak again. "I'm r-really happy for you Akane...ah~ if only I could find someone that could forgive me...I wouldn't let them go...ever…" The aura around the nurse got a lot more dark and heavy than usual but no one saw it thanks to the loud cheer of the famous rock girl.

"Yeah yeah! Mikan is super right! Mega right! When you find that special someone you have to jump them before someone else takes them. Like this!" With that as her only warning, Ibuki leaped onto the back of Byakuya Togami, or at least someone who was very similar to him if one were to ignore his elevated body weight.

"Why can't you behave like a person your age?" The Impostor grunted those words because of the added weight, strangely enough, he made no attempt to fend off the girl that was posing as the most extravagant backpack in the world. "I couldn't care less about the romantic escapades of a couple of plebeians...that being said, I wish you well to both of you." The boy was certainly a copy of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny in looks, mannerisms, and even voice but his inherent kindness shone through the façade.

The blonde princess was next to interject, sparks of pure excitement on her royal eyes. "Indubitably! The infinite power of love can defeat anything, even the differences in social status!"

A surprised gasp came from the Ultimate Mechanic that was looking at the royal girl with reverence. "D-Do you believe that Miss Sonia?"

"Of course." She said with a smile...before interlocking arms with Gundam Tanaka; Sonia's eyes didn't leave Souda's as he joined Hiyoko in her 'Feels induced heart attack'.

"Hmph, human emotions are a mystery for such a high-level demon as myself. I guess that you have to find comfort in such trivial things when your lifespan is so short." The Breeder was trying really hard to sound cool but it was hard for him as his place face was now beet red thanks to the Princess's proximity.

The class representative of this class, Chiaki Nanami, was uncharacteristically focused on Akane. Even as the Ultimate Gamer, there was a genre that, no matter how hard she practiced, the gamer girl always ended up in the 'Game Over' screen. Sure, she could just search for a walkthrough on the internet, but that would be an insult to her gamer pride! However, asking a friend for tips is totally fine. She would have to ask Akane to a private gaming session one of these days as the tanned girl was, obviously, an expert in romance.

"Makoto Naegi...I wasn't aware of an athlete with that name but he must be quite amazing and strong!" The team manager said in the loud and intense voice that made the windows of the place tremble dangerously.

"He is amazing!...but a bit of a wimp…" She said with a frown, her arms crossed under her chest. A second later an idea flashed in her head and the girl smiled. "You should train him old man, that way he can be buff and strong!"

"HAHAHAHAHA don't worry, once I'm done with him, even you will have problems keeping up with him!" Of course, he will have to get Makoto's permission first, but they were just too excited at the prospect of a new member of the 'muscle club', his future full of muscle cramps and soreness.

"Mhm~ love is such a sweet and delectable plate but is nothing more than a warm starter, as things got hotter and spicy you got to the juicy first plate and then-urgh!" The body of Teruteru fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, Mahiru delivered such a precise chop to the base of his neck that it would've left even Sakura impressed.

"Jeez~ you guys, I can't leave you alone for one second before something crazy happens." The redhead let out a tired sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "You guys are making me give up on dating just by proxy."

"That's a shame, you would be a great girlfriend." It took Hajime five seconds to realize what he just said, with pink dusted cheeks he turned to see her. "Ah, I don't mean...w-well I still think so but…"

By this point Mahiru's face was as red as her hair, eyes darting from side to side not really knowing where to look. "J-Jeez~ what are you, s-stupid? Watch what you say, i-idiot!"

"S-sorry…"

The atmosphere in the room was light and cheerful, for the most part, the group of friends chatting happily and celebrating her friend's happiness. All but one of them, they just were looking without saying anything...thinking.

**/-/**

It was here! The favorite time that gluttons and students who were sick of classes shared, Lunch Time! Teachers and students alike were trying to secure a spot in the cafeteria to eat the delicious food of the Ultimate Cook, or Chef as he likes to say. However, the ones who made their own food or procured it by other methods usually relaxed in the benches close to the fountain. Makoto was now in one of them, enjoying the gentle breeze as he waited for Akane to appear.

"Strange, she is never late for lunch...maybe she is still busy with that wall." The hoodie wearer muttered to himself, a bit anxious even when he had no motives for it. Until a shadow loomed over his body and getting him out of his thoughts, looking over it Makoto saw another student. Strangely, the pale teen was kinda similar to him in appearance but with a complexion that made him look a bit unhealthy, but one thing was clear...he had excellent taste in hoodies.

"Hope that I don't bother you but, would you mind if I sat with you for a bit?" The teen with cloud-like hair gave Makoto a serene smile.

It was a bit strange, after all, there were free benches around. "Sure, sit down." Makoto scooted a bit to let space for the older teen. _"I'm sure that he is just a bit extravagant."_

"Thank you." He sat down to the ahoge teen side, a smile still on his lips. "You must be really kind for tolerating the presence of such lowly garbage like me!"

_"I made a huge mistake."_ The brunette thought, a new record of regret. "I… wouldn't say that…"

"My apologies didn't even give you my name. I'm Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student from class 77-B." Again he was smiling, in fact, Nagito didn't stop smiling from the first moment Makoto saw him, it was kinda creepy.

"It's a pleasure Nagito." Makoto already knew about him from Akane, except that she called him Weird Hope Guy when referring to him. At first, he thought that his girlfriend was just being bad with names again but he had to admit, it was an accurate name. "My name is-"

"Makoto Naegi, right? I actually know a bit about you from my classmate...like the fact that you are dating Akane Owari."

"O-oh, did she told her class?" Makoto scratched the back of his head like he used to do when he was nervous. In his mind, he looked like the one keeping it a secret because he was embarrassed or something, which is not true of course. "Hehehe we are, ah it is a bit embarrassi-"

"How arrogant of you."

"Huh?"

The air suddenly felt very heavy, like when the music stops to a halt on a movie or a videogame. When the younger Lucky student turned to see Nagito he already was giving him an apologetic expression, hands in front of his body in a surrender fashion. "Apologies, that came out really wrong. Allow me to explain myself." Before Makoto could say anything, Nagito got closer, uncomfortably so.

"You see, in this world, there are two types of people: The talented and the talentless, from the two groups it's a no brainer who is the superior one. Those with talents are the ones who bring hope into this world, being able to perform feats that the masses without talent can only dream of. Ultimates are Hope itself!"

Makoto could only listen with bewilderment on his face; he just wanted to have a nice lunch with the girl he loved and now this weird boy was giving a monologue about his wrapped vision of the world. Just his luck, and talking about luck…

"There is, however, the case of the Ultimate Lucky students...sure they have a 'talent' but you will agree that they aren't really Ultimates right?" The totally mentally stable boy gave the other luckster another apologetic smile. "I'm not saying that I think of me as superior, on the contrary, someone as worthless as myself is at the bottom of the barrel...at least I'm still better than those people that bought their way into the school."

The ahoge boy didn't need to be a genius to know who Nagito was referring to or how his fists clenched while talking about the reserve course, it was perplexing for Makoto how someone could hate others just for the way they were born.

"Sure, I get admiring the Ultimates but even if they invite you to hangout you should know your place and politely decline, that damn Haji-...sorry, I started to ramble."

"What do you mean 'started'?"

"My point was that…" Nagito got even closer which Makoto didn't know it was possible and certainly wished that it wasn't. "Do you actually think that she and you are on the same level? You must have thought that she would be much better with someone other than an unremarkable person with only luck as a strong point…"

Again, silence. A heavy and murky silence that seemingly froze both of the luckster in place. Makoto had his gaze down and Nagito couldn't see his face, just waiting to get his response. Finally, Makoto spoke. "You are right...I thought of it…"

"Ah, I'm glad that we see each other eye to e-"

"That's why I won't give up" Makoto lifted his head, eyes locking onto Nagito's. "If I felt that I'm not good enough, then I just need to work to be better...to become someone worthy of being loved."

Nagito's eyes were slightly wider. "You make it sound so easy, but if people could change just by willing it, the world wouldn't be the way it is."

"That may be so...but I truly believe that you can do amazing things if you never give up on yourself."

Maybe it was a trick of the light or the imagination of his damaged brain but, for a second, Nagito saw something shimmering in the brunette's eyes. "Could it be…"

"Besides I think you said that me being with Akane was arrogant of me but if I were to break up with her without talking to her or even taking her feelings into consideration like I know what is best for her, well that would be truly arrogant." Makoto was quite calm and composed for someone in his position, all things considered.

And so the third silence of the day fell upon them once more, this one was more freaky, as for the first time Nagito wasn't smiling anymore. His eyes were trying to look into the depths of this boy's soul before any of the two could say anything more, the pale luckster was forced to stand up when someone yanked him by his hoodie.

"Are you being creepy again?" It was the girl of the moment; Akane was lifting the teen with only a hand, his feet hovering above the ground like a doll's. With a smile, she turned to her boyfriend. "Heya! Sorry for being late but that wall took a while to get done."

"Don't worry about it, just glad that you made it." He finally let himself relax, secretly glad for the breathing room that the girl provided.

She turned the floating luckster around so they could talk face to face. "I came running here so, how were you here before me?"

"Well, you see...I was in charge of cleaning so...I left when my...part was done…" He had some trouble breathing thanks to the neck of the shirt pressing against his throat, nothing to worry about.

"Hmmm." Akane frowned at his explanation, not sure if it was fair of him to do what he did. Pointing at Nagito with her free hand she asked Makoto. "Was he bothering you? He does that a lot."

Makoto was reminded earlier of how lacking he was in the lying department, so instead he did the next best thing, deflect. "We were just talking but you should let him go, pretty sure that you are choking him."

A simple 'Oops' was the only apology the choked man got, with a soft cough his hand went to rub the slightly red neck. "Think I saw my old dog for a moment…" Nagito mumbled under his breath, relaxed expression back in place he turned around to leave. "Sorry for bothering you, will be going now."

"Hey, Nagito." The luckster of class 78 spoke to him. "Don't wanna sound like a smartass or anything but...you were wrong about two more things."

He stopped walking but didn't turn around, his voice still calm and friendly. "Those things being?"

"You call yourself trash or worthless, but I bet that the only one thinking that is you. At least I know that you aren't."

Nagito still was facing away from the couple, making it impossible to know what kind of face he was making. "And the other one?"

"You said that my only strong point was luck, actually I have another one, you see…" Makoto's smile was full of confidence when he spoke. "I'm more gung-ho than other people." Yeah, that definitely sounded way cooler in his head…

Again the white-haired teen didn't move a muscle for a while before starting to walk away, this time at least he said goodbye. "Enjoy your meal."

They just watched the lonely boy, walking, hand in his pockets. One could only imagine what kind of warped thoughts are swimming in such a strange mind. "Nha, he is just weird, anyway let's eat already!"

This girl truly knew what was the important things in life, scooting closer to the boy she pulled several lunch boxes from her bag. The luckster chuckled at the exaggerated amount. "It is good to see that your appetite wasn't affected by that punishment."

She finished the first box before Makoto could even notice, grinning she pointed at the two that the boy had in his lap. "Look who's talking, eating two of those now?" Akane was teasing him but there was no malice in her tone after all the wild girl was always worried about how 'little' he ate so she was glad to see Makoto eating more.

They laughed together, talking about small stuff like the reaction of their classmates at the 'secret' of the lovers' relationship. The empty boxes rested at the bench's side while the couple was resting and enjoying the silence, a bit of pink found its way into Akane's cheeks when the boy's hand gave hers a squeeze. Smiling she squeezed back.

Another peaceful day in Hope's Academy.

**Omake:**

A girl was browsing the shelves of the store Warm Subject, she had black hair in a pixie bob cut. Wearing a black tracksuit and sunglasses to hide her appearance. Her name was Taeko Yasuhiro, better known as Celestia Ludenberg, although if she were to be discovered in such a store, the gambling girl would pretty much prefer to be known which such a plain name. Not like anyone could recognize her with such flawless disguise.

"Celeste? Is that you?"

"Shit."

She turned around to see Leon looking at her with curiosity that gave way to an honest smile. The baseball star was next to her in a second.

"It is you! Almost don't recognize you with that get up" He laughed, not reading the mood between the two. "I knew you were a regular here, with those weird accessories of yours."

How did she wanted to slap the fake ginger in the face for making fun of her fashion sense like that, but that would be blowing her cover and that was just not feasible. Breathing deeply she spoke in a normal tone, ditching her fake accent. "Sorry but you must be mistaking me with someone that, without a doubt, had an excellent taste in clothes and accessories."

"What's with the voice? Are you sick or something? Hey hey, this means that those weird hair drills are fake right?"

She was trembling with restrained fury and murderous intent. "I told you…you got the wrong person…"

Leon clearly wasn't blessed with the vital skill of sensing danger so he kept blabbing away. "This is hilarious, wait till I tell everyone about this. Mondo owns me a lot of money no-"

The girl that definitely wasn't Celeste, yanked down the boy by his goatee. Crimson eyes glaring a hole into his skull with intensity. "Listen to me you wannabe punk, you never saw me here. If you think to tell someone, you will be dropped to D rank at such speed that your lungs will burst because of the pressure change!"

The poor boy didn't understand half of what she said but was too scared to ask. Weakly he nodded in response and his ass hit the floor when the girl let go of him. Not bothering to look back, Taeko walked out of the store.

"...why are all the chicks in my class crazy?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> God that was loooooooong, still with me? If you are, thank you for taking the time to read my stories, it means a lot to me that people are enjoying what I write.
> 
> I hope that you enjoy my lame jokes and references (Yes, Warm Subject is a reference to Hot Topic).
> 
> Don't know what the next chapter will be about but it will be shorter than this one…I hope.
> 
> Thanks for all your favs, follows, and reviews. I'll try to answer all of them.
> 
> See you next time!


	4. The First Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ladies and gentlemen! It's a pleasure to see you all again.
> 
> Yeah so, remember in the last chapter when I said that the next will be shorter? It was a lie! Not on purpose of course but sometimes ideas just keep coming and coming. And so, I bring you the longest chapter to date with over 9000 words! Also, I decided to change the rating to M just in case.
> 
> Some of you caught that Jojo's reference that I put the last chapter, well if you like Jojo and Danganronpa you should check out "Makoto's Bizarre Adventure: Lucky Hope" by muk854, I'm sure you will enjoy it.
> 
> As usual, my beta-reader is TheLadyRedHeart.
> 
> Timeline
> 
> 1<3<2<4

Our favorite couple was resting on the grass, rays of sun shining down on them as they lay beside each other, eyes closed while they just enjoyed the moment. The school gave all the students a few days off once in a while so they could rest from the stress of school life, even when the classes weren't mandatory. Because who needed proper schedules and education plans? Certainly not this elitist school in which all the country is putting their hopes in; anyway, Makoto and Akane were just chilling.

"It's good to have a few days for us once in a while, and not because something bizarre happens in this school every five minutes." Makoto said to the person at his side. Both had their eyes closed but knew that they weren't alone.

"Mhm~" His lover hummed in response, toned arms behind her head like a pillow.

"Though it can be a bit boring if it goes for too long. Should we do something?"

In less than a second, Akane sat up like she was struck by lighting. A toothy grin was on her face. "A date!"

"What?" The boy blinked a few times to banish the sleepiness from his eyes before looking at her with a confused expression.

"A date! You know, we go to places, do fun stuff. We never did it before."

Looking back she was right; they always hang out inside the school. Sure the place was big and there was always something interesting to do, but the same view all the time was getting old.

"Guess you are right."

"We will go on a date then!" She proclaimed before Makoto had a chance to argue. "Tomorrow is Saturday so we will do it then. Come to the front gate at six o'clock. Don't be late~"

And with that she was gone, too excited about the future date to stay in one place, Akane ran away at high speed like that would make tomorrow come faster. She left behind a dumbfounded Makoto that, after blinking a few times, decided to lay down again. It wasn't a problem; after all, they were together all the time and already did a lot of 'boyfriend and girlfriend' stuff, this would be easy.

It was just a date.

Their first date ever.

Makoto jumped up with his eyes wide open and some sweat dripping down his face. "What do people do on dates!?"

**/-/**

It pained him to admit it but the luckster had little experience in dating...well, none to be precise. That combined with the tendency of teenagers to blow romantic stuff out of proportion made him quite nervous. Luckily, he put a plan in motion: to form a special team to help him make the perfect date plan! And so, the three women were in his room, looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Really? You two have been dating for more than a month and never went on a date?" Sayaka asked her old childhood friend, crossing her arms in a disappointed manner. "You know, not everyone can have such freedom with their relationships."

"Y-yeah, sorry about that." He said while scratching his cheek. The Idol didn't have the liberty of dating someone just because then she wouldn't be 'pure'. It was pretty dumb but that's Japan for you sometimes. "We were together pretty much every day so we didn't need it."

A third voice cut into the conversation, it was one full of anxiety. "I g-get why the shallow doll is here, being all girly and p-popular, but why me?" It was the voice of Toko who, once again, was struggling with the concept of being 'nice'. "Y-you better not be thinking about getting s-some 'practice' with me before the date, I'll scream!"

"I'm 100% sure that he won't do anything like that." The blue-haired girl sighed while brushing of Toko's hurtful comments, sadly they were used to them. "If I have to take a guess, Makoto invited you because of your 'experience' in romance, right?"

She turned to him for confirmation, and the ahoge boy gave her a nod while trying to fight back a slight blush that appeared thanks to the writer's implications. The hand of a fourth person raised as if asking a question, and when she realized that this wasn't a classroom the hand went down and Aoi blushed in shame.

"Then, why I am here? I don't know anything about dates and that kind of stuff."

"Well, you see…" Makoto scratched the back of his neck this time; he wasn't too proud of his logic here. "I was thinking that since you and Akane like similar things…"

Hina gave him the most deadpan look she could muster before standing up. "I'm leaving."

"Please stay! It was just a joke." It wasn't. "I could really use your perspective Hina."

She pouted cutely before sitting down with a huff. "Okay, but you have to stop doing that-it's getting old...also you owe me a ramen bowl."

"Deal!"

"S-still, I'm surprised that you didn't ask the b-boys to help you. All of you could have a w-wiener party together." For some reason, the gloomy girl was drooling a bit at the idea.

"A wiener party? Is that a party where you eat a lot of them?" The swimmer girl asked with a finger on her chin.

"I b-bet you would l-love being in one."

"You bet, I love wieners!"

Sayaka jumped behind Hina and covered her ears. "Toko stop, don't fill Hina's mind with perverted stuff."

The girl huffed and turned her gaze to the side. "At least this way she w-would have something in there."

Hina was looking around in confusion before the only boy in the room spoke, another blush on his face. "A-anyway, I thought about asking them but…well, Chihiro, Ishimaru, and Hifumi also never had a date before. Mondo gets super nervous when asking a girl out, Leon says that he has a lot of experience but I'm pretty sure that he got more rejections than anything and Hiro...is Hiro." Speaking ill of his friends wasn't something he enjoyed doing, but at the end of the day, facts are facts. The rest of the people in the room nodded in understanding.

"W-wait, what about Master?"

"Byakuya, well he sure is popular but I can't imagine him asking a girl on a date."

Toko could, in fact, the Writer was doing just that if the way she drooled and stared into space with a slight grin was any indication. The rest of the group sighed in unison.

"Well now that everything has been cleared, let's start the operation Perfect Date!" Sayaka took the initiative of the conversation, her fist-pumping into the air and leg bent, a perfect idol pose. Makoto and Hina also pumped out their fist in the air with energy while Toko just watched them with a disgusted expression. "First things first, we have to decide the place. Do you have any ideas Makoto?"

"Well I was thinking about going to watch a movie, it's a classic choice."

Toko visibly flinched at that, and she even bit into the nail of her thumb because of pure anguish. "I w-wouldn't recommend that, what if you pick a movie that she doesn't like? Before you know it she is walking out and you are sitting there like an idiot."

"C'mon Toko, who would do something so low to their date?" Hina was smiling thinking that it was just another of the literary girl's depressive fantasies. The moment she received the hateful glare of Toko, the smile changed into a sad frown. "S-sorry..."

The blue-haired student stepped between them to prevent a fight. "Leaving the worst possible outcome aside, it is true that if the movie happens to be a bust you will be wasting at least a couple of hours."

"Yeah and just thinking about sitting for such a long time makes me nervous." The bundle of energy was already tapping her leg up and down; she would need to run a few laps around the school after this to spend all this stored energy.

They decided to put the idea on the pile of 'maybes', this was gonna be trickier than expected.

"Oh, what about taking her to a nice restaurant? With candlelight and music, so romantic~" Now it was Sayaka who was having fantasies, the poor girl was starved for some romance in her life.

"Hmmm, I don't think Akane is into fancy things like that…" No matter how many times he imagined it, picturing both of them having a quiet evening while eating was impossible.

"A Dinner then! Those places are very cozy and relaxed, the food is tasty and some even have doughnuts!"

"A-always with that, anyway that wouldn't work either." It as Toko who shot down another date suggestion. "I bet you w-want to look cool by paying for the food right?"

"Of course, it's the least I can do."

"Do you have enough money?"

Of course, he did...for a person with a normal stomach, but everyone that knew Akane or saw her eat knew that this wasn't the case. Sure, the Naegi parents send him some money each week, but not nearly enough to support their possible future family member's appetite. Makoto hung his head in shame, maybe he should get a part-time job?

"Then one of those all-you-can-eat places, they aren't too expensive and you can eat your fill!" Aoi seemed like she knew quite a bit about the restaurant industry, maybe she could work in that sector after winning the gold in the Olympics a few times.

"While that is true, a place full of people eating to burst isn't very romantic."

"Yeah, and it would be hard to talk while she is one of those people…" The Lucky student decided to leave in the dark the fact that his girlfriend has been banned from almost every buffet in town because she devoured all of their food.

"This is harder than I thought…" Hina scrunched her face, eyes closed and deep in thought. She opened them again with a smile of realization. "I know, just go to the pool; you can never go wrong with the pool."

"W-why go to the public pool when we have our own p-pool here?"

"Well to the beach then!"

"It's a bit too cold for that Hina." Sayaka gave her friend a strained smile, she didn't want to turn down her friend's idea in a harsh way.

Toko, on the other hand, didn't really care. "You just want to go swim yourself, you idiot swimmer."

"I-I'm not an idiot, also you are wrong." She wasn't, the blush on the donut lover's face was clear proof of it. Ashamed, Hina looked away.

Another slump. They had to find a solution fast or the mood would drop. Makoto cupped his chin with a couple of fingers, it was a quirk that he picked up from Kyoko but it helped the boy to concentrate. "_C'mon think, dating is normal and I'm supposed to be the best at that. Maybe I can get an idea from a romantic movie or from Komaru's romance manga…"_

Suddenly a spark in the darkness, in a way it was quite the obvious choice, anime and manga did it all the time.

"An amusement park?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

A deafening silence was the only answer he got, now he was starting to sweat as three pairs of eyes were focusing on him. Are amusement parks the worst place to have a date? Or maybe they were prohibited by some sort of secret girl code that Makoto didn't know about; girls definitely have secret codes everyone knows! Strangely enough, Toko was the one who put his worries to rest.

"That's...a pretty good idea."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, they are filled with a lot of attractions and shows to watch." The Popstar encouraged her old friend with a smile and a nod.

"Those places are super fun, full of food stands and cafeterias too." Hina pumped her fists with enthusiasm, maybe she should go with Yuta someday.

The boy sighed in pure relief, not only had he not said anything stupid but it was also the best idea since the reunion began. Was he letting it get to his head? Just a bit. "Hehehe well I'm pretty good at this stuff after all." Makoto scratched his neck in mock modesty.

"Let's move to the next issue then...what are you gonna wear?" Sayaka's words had a strange weight to it like she was waiting for something to happen.

"Something normal I guess, some nice pants, a shirt and my-"

"You aren't wearing your hoodie on your date." The blue-haired girl spoke so fast that no doubt she was waiting for that.

"W-what?" Makoto felt a strange sense of betrayal. "But hoodies are great, they are super comfy and stylish at the same time! Hina you tell her."

"No offense Makoto, but if you had that on a romantic date with me I would turn around in an instant…"

"Et tu Hina?" The knife just went deeper into his chest.

"You w-wear that old thing every day since I first met you, it's g-gross." Said the pot to the kettle.

"It isn't, I have one for every day of the week so I can wash the rest."

"What are you a c-cartoon character? Get some wardrobe!"

The smelly girl pointed at his face with an accusatory finger, she did have a point. A few more clothes wouldn't kill the guy, however, that was also true for 90% of the people in this academy. He should go shopping someday...maybe get a new hoodie. Still, the teen wanted to do things right for their first official date but his knowledge of fashion was pretty limited. That's when it clicked.

"Ah! I have an idea, please wait here." With no further explanation, the young man bolted out of his own room, letting the female trio slightly confused.

"Did...did he just leave? After dragging us here to help him, he t-truly is the lowest of the lowest. Just like people who put the milk before the cereal!"

"You sure have some funny comparisons, Toko. I wonder where Makoto went?"

"That doesn't matter now." The melodious voice of Sayaka brought the other girls' attention. She had a strange glimmer in her eyes as she stood up. "Ladies, we have been given the opportunity of a lifetime: we are now in the unexplored territory...a boy's room."

The pair of girls were giving their friend a look full of bewilderment, but it was the swimmer who spoke her confusion. "Is that such a big deal? I have been in my brother's room a lot of times."

"Family doesn't count! And of course, it is, aren't you curious about what kind of 'boy secrets' Makoto may have?" Sayaka was beyond excited, doing this kind of normal stuff with friends was a lot of fun for her even if she loved being an idol.

Hina blushed at the mention of boy secrets, surely their pure egg Makoto wouldn't be hiding any perverted stuff...right? "E-even so, snooping around his room is wrong."

"He shouldn't have left three curious girls all alone then~"

"Y-you act like a good girl but are quite wicked…" Toko sighed, the whole situation was starting to wear the girl down. "I bet the other muscle-bound idiot doesn't have to deal with this."

**/-/**

In the dormitories of the second year, a similar situation was taking place: a group of girls surrounding a mildly confused Akane.

"And those are all the things that a couple can do in public." A flustered Mahiru took a few seconds to recover her breath because, for some reason, she had been burdened with the duty of teaching Akane what was civil to do in public while on a date. "_Why do I have to do it anyway? It's not like I've ever been on a date...stupid Hajime."_ Taking a deep breath, the young photographer began talking again in a caring, but stern tone.

"Remember no carrying him around like a plushie or touching in...w-weird places…" she said with a cough. "Hugs and kisses are fine, but control yourself."

"Now, now Mahiru." The soft-spoken Sonia interceded between the two friends, the grace that distinguishes the Novoselic royal family could be seen in her aura. "Even if our friend Akane is somewhat inexperienced I'm sure that she-oh nevermind she is taking notes."

"Ibuki also found this information very educative." The rocker girl was scribbling something in a notebook, tongue poking out in deep concentration. "She is confused though, where is Hiyoko? Wasn't she coming too?"

Mahiru sighed in resignation, head shaking in a negative motion. "Hiyoko said that this wasn't her problem, I swear we have to have a talk about empathy...hm? What is it Akane?"

The dark-skinned girl was waving her hand in the air to draw attention, Mahiru is unable to remember the girl being so motivated in the normal classes. "If someone is being annoying I can punch them right?"

She deadpanned. "No."

"Okay." Akane began to write in her little notebook again. "Only...kick them…"

Mahiru facepalmed herself with quite the strength, her pale face was starting to get red and numb from all the times she did it in the last hour. In a way she was envious of the traditional dancer, the rotten girl was probably having a great time right now.

**/-/**

"Squish, squish~"

The kimono wearer was, in a twisted way, having a great time right now. Squatting in front of an anthill, the blonde could see a long line of the tiny insects, every single one carrying food and such in their efforts to help their whole colony. It was inspiring in a way until a dainty finger came down onto one of them and crushed its little black body.

"Hihihi~ this is way better than helping that stupid monkey girl."

From behind her, a voice called over. "What are you doing there?"

"I'm doing squish, squish with Mr. Ant." It was the only explanation the dancer gave, not even turning around to face whoever was speaking to her.

"Ah, are you playing a game with them?" The voice had a happy tone to it.

"Pffft of course not, I'm literally squishing them!" Her tone was even happier, which was pretty unsettling in this kind of situation.

"W-what? B-but you aren't supposed to do that to bug friends!"

"Ugh, you are annoying! Just leave me alone, besides what kind of person is friends with bu-" All the anger she was displaying began to fade when that enormous shadow loomed over her, turning around the bratty girl didn't see a person, but instead a wall of muscles stuffed into a brown suit. her pupils shrank in fear as she craned her neck to look at the face of the gigantic man that was literally blocking the sun from her.

Gonta had such an intense expression on his usually gentle face; it was like his eyes were glowing. His voice was shaky and came from between clenched teeth, "Doing such an evil thing to do to poor ants, Gonta can not stay still before such evil!"

"T-the hell? What are you…"

"Gonta will take care of you…" With a solemn tone, the strong man hurled Hiyoko like she was weightless before running away, ground shaking with every step.

"L-let me go! Help, I'm being kidnapped! HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPP!"

**/-/**

"So? Will you help me?"

Makoto's friends 'kindly' informed the boy that his choice in clothes wasn't enough to have a proper date with a lady. Well, if they wanted fashion who better to assist that the Ultimate Fashionista herself? Sure, sometimes the two of them butted heads and didn't see eye to eye, but they were friends and classmates. So when the needy boy asked for help the blonde did the only thing logical in her situation.

She laughed. A lot.

She giggled, chuckled, and cackled.

Makoto was starting to worry, he never saw someone laugh for so much time without passing out or stopping for air; the girl could be breaking a record right now. After a while, he was beginning to ready himself with the duty of carrying the girl to the nurse's office, but luckily for how funny that Junko found the joke, it was starting to lose its humor.

Wiping some tears away the buxom girl recovered her composure, and with all of that out of her system, Junko gave her answer, "No." and closed the door on his face.

"...don't know what I was expecting…"

With a dent on his spirit, Makoto walked back to his own room; it wasn't the end of the world, he was sure that the girls could help in picking a nice and simple outfit; they were sensible and level headed people after all...or that's what the teen thought before that idea turned to dust once those hazel eyes glanced at the trio of girls.

"Makoto was right, they are comfy!" Hina was in front of the boy's closet, a hoodie in place of her usual red jacket, though she had some problems zipping it all the way up, "Ngh~ I think the zipper is stuck…"

"Pretty sure the zipper is not the problem…" Sayaka was rummaging the drawers like a rogue expecting to find some incredible treasure, what the girl found was a rather old CD. Those blue eyes of hers sparked with joy, "Awww it's the first single of my group, so sweet. I bet he would love if I convince the girls to sign it for him and Komaru."

The last of the group had literally flipped the mattress off the bed, eyes scanning the bed frame with hunger. "C'mon they have to be here, boys always hide their dirty things under the bed."

"Again, I don't think he is that kind of boy, Toko."

"Y-you don't know anything aside from dancing and singing, a boy can survive a whole month with only manga, porn, and fried chicken!" It was a mystery what was the source of Toko's information but that didn't make it any less true.

"What!? Yuta too!?"

"Are you three having fun?"

Time seemed to freeze, and none of the girls moved an inch or spoke. A chill ran down their backs at how cold the ahoge teen's words sounded. They didn't need to see his face to know that he wasn't smiling. An earful was in its wake.

"I'm not mad...just disappointed." Said Dadkoto.

**/-/**

Saturday came, the skies were clear and a gentle breeze made the leaves swing pleasantly; a perfect day for a date. The lucky boy was standing on the gate with his new attire: a pair of nice black tennis shoes along with well-kept jeans. A simple white button-up dress shirt did the job of covering his chest with a blue jacket on top. It was simple but it worked, and now he was standing on the gate. Maybe he came a bit early to make sure nothing will go wrong-about thirty minutes early to be exact. While watching his phone to make sure the time was right, a couple of steps caught the boy's attention. Looking up, Makoto's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly thanks to what he was seeing.

Akane was walking up to him while waving her hand vigorously into the air as if he could somehow miss her. She wasn't wearing her usual clothes either; a dark red and black jacket over a white shirt, along with high-waisted black pants that for some reason had the images of some flames rising from her ankles. A bit strange but she made it work. Her shoes were a clean plain white, that un-wilding mane of brown was tied up in a messy ponytail, and a few bangs were framing her face along with the one between those dark gray eyes.

Maybe he was a bit biased, but to Makoto she was stunning.

"Hope you didn't wait too long." She stood before him, a smile on her lips while she eyed his clothes. "Hey you look really nice, how about me?" Akane put a hand on her hip waiting for a response.

"You look beautiful." It wasn't Makoto's most inspired compliment but those words came out without thinking.

"Save something for the date you~" The athlete wasn't fully blushing but that wide smile was a sign that those words warmed her heart. She gave him a playful punch in the arm, making him stagger a bit. "Where are we going?"

The Luckster repressed the need to rub his slightly sore arm and gave her a cheeky smile, "That's a surprise."

After a short walk, they took a bus the rest of the way, talking about silly things and looking at their phones. A few minutes later the couple arrived at their destination. Akane's eyes went wide with child-like wonder and that put a huge smile on Makoto's face.

"An amusement park!" The girl's eyes were jumping between the attractions that could be seen from the entrance, laughter and excited screams filling the air. "I always wanted to visit one!"

"What are we waiting for?" Heart full of joy for getting to see the girl of his dreams so happy, Makoto offered an arm which she hooked with her own before walking in.

It was Saturday so it was a bit crowded but not enough so it would be a bother to them. The place was named "La-la-land"-not the best of names- Akane suggested that maybe the one who named the park was a stutterer; both of them laughed at the bad joke.

"I think it would be better to eat after getting on the attractions." Other couples were walking around, so he knew that the place was a popular spot for dates. "Where do you wanna go first?"

"That one!" Still full of excitement, she pointed.

Hazel eyes followed the finger to a huge rollercoaster.

The happy smile changing to a nervous one.

"Th-that one? I don't know...rollercoasters are so cliche..."

"But I really want to ride one, and look at how fast it goes!"

He was looking all right, how it dropped from the top at high speeds, and turned around to let you hang in the air. Akane was looking at him, curiosity in her eyes as she could see how the _hoodiless_ boy was fidgeting in place and sweating.

"Wait a second…" A teasing smirk began to form as the tanned girl understood the problem, she bent over so they were eye to eye. "Are you scared~?"

The teen flinched at how right she was, he never liked heights and if you combine then with speed, it became a living nightmare for him. Sadly he was also cursed with male pride and the need to be cool in front of his girlfriend; being a boy was hard sometimes.

"Of course not...l-let's go."

Even though he said that Akane had to drag him to the line of the attraction. He couldn't even use that time to relax because people kept screaming loudly, and of course, his luck wouldn't help him this time. Five minutes later they were boarding the death machine; front car no less.

The security bar placed against Makoto's body felt cold, like the grip of death, the slow ascent of the car just like walking up the stairs to the gallows.

"_Wow, I get really dramatic while scared...at least someone is enjoying this slow torture."_

In contrast to the boy, Akane was quite giddy. The girl was grinning and rocking in her seat from pure excitement. It was a cute sight, a shame that he couldn't fully appreciate as they got higher and higher. At the highest point, they had a perfect view of the whole park and again the Luckster could only gaze at the drop. All of his blood flowed down to the teen's feet, luckily it all came back up when they were launched down at ludicrous speed.

He screamed, and she screamed too.

His were of pure terror while hers were full of joy.

Makoto's hands were gripping onto the bar so hard the knuckles were turning white, but Akane's were high in the air as if she was trying to catch the wind.

The ride only lasted a few minutes, but for him, it was at least an hour. Shaky legs took him to a nearby bench on which he decided to rest until his heart started beating again. Akane stood in front of him with a cocky grin.

"C'mon that wasn't so bad, it was like riding a really fast bicycle."

"_Mental note: Never get on a bicycle with her."_ Sighing he wiped off some cold sweat from his forehead. "I know that those things are safe but can't help getting scared once I'm in one, my body doesn't listen."

Akane knew that being afraid sometimes was normal and didn't make you weak, in fact, it was Makoto who taught her that...but there wasn't anything wrong about a bit of teasing between boyfriend and girlfriend.

"I understand, don't worry about it, why don't you choose the next one? Maybe we can get in one for kids, those are slow and safe." She had such a grin on her face that Junko and Hiyoko would be proud of it.

"Ahaha very funny…" The Luckster was now pouting cutely while crossing his arms over his chest, then he saw something behind the Gymnast and his frown turned upside-down. "Can I choose anything?"

"Sure, whatever you want."

Now he was grinning too. Raising a tired hand, the boy pointed at the next attraction. "That one."

The athlete had to turn around to see which one of them he was pointing, and her eyes fell on a rundown mansion with an eerie aura to it. Akane began to sweat, she knew what kind of attraction that was.

"I-I don't know, seems kinda boring…" Just as he did before, Akane was doing her best to convince him that they should try any other thing.

And just like before Makoto got closer to her, a teasing grin on his face. "Are you scared~?"

And what do you know? Girls also have their own pride and the need to be cool in front of their boyfriends; being a girl was hard sometimes.

"Fine! I will show you that I'm stronger than before!"

**/-/**

The interior of the mansion was only illuminated by a very dim light, the walls were covered in rust and the floor made the sound of rotten boards every time anyone took a step. They even lowered the temperature of the rooms to induce chills on the visitors, clearly, this place knew what it was doing; Akane hated it.

Her throat was dry while her hands were damp thanks to the sweat, it was also clinging to Makoto's so hard that one would need power tools to pry them apart. "T-This is dumb, why do people like this?"

"Well, some really like the rush that you get when something scares you." He wasn't that big on scary things but having someone at your side that was terrified was oddly calming. Still, he was starting to feel bad for Akane, even if it was to get back at her Makoto didn't like her suffering like that. Smiling he gently caressed her hand with a thumb to soothe the girl's nerves. "I do think that you became stronger, remember the time the classes made a haunted house for the school festival?"

She did, it was pretty hard to forget such a terribly scary and embarrassing experience. And yet, she wouldn't want to anyway. "Yeah...we weren't even dating at the time and I couldn't let you be the only one doing awesome stuff."

At those words, Makoto's cheeks obtained a pink hue and he scratched his neck in embarrassment. "I don't remember doing anything special."

"You did…" Akane then gave his hand a soft squeeze, gray eyes gazing into hazel ones, a blush, and a shy smile softening her features. "You were really cool."

His heart skipped a beat, she had no right being so cute in this gloomy place. The atmosphere of the room completely changed, now it was cozy and relaxed.

** _BUMP_ **

** _BUMP_ **

** _BUMP_ **

A door next to them began to rattle and shake like someone was knocking on it intending to break it down, the terror came back.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"What was th-HMMMM!?"

Holding hands was upgraded to a strong, tight hug by the terrified girl and once again Makoto was a victim of the difference in height. It wasn't something that he disliked, not at all, but it was hard to breathe with so much soft flesh against your face. After dragging him through several rooms and a few pats on the back, the boy was liberated from the round prison, face missing the sensation but lungs appreciating the air.

After a few more jumps, scares, and jumpscares; the couple was close to the exit if the signals covered in fake blood didn't lie.

"Ugh, this is awful." She walked on shaky legs and low spirits, obviously regretting the whole teasing thing.

"Sorry, I will treat you to the food later on." That was the Luckster's plan from the very beginning but now he had an excuse to do it without her trying to do the same.

Suddenly a door flew open at the other side of the hallway, crossing the frame was a bulky man with a hockey mask and a huge machete in hand. The truly scary thing about him was how hard he broke the copyright laws, at least until he let out a strong roar and lunged for them while raising the weapon. Before he could realize Akane let go of his hand and started to run...straight to that frenzied killer.

"Ora!" With a scream full of spirit instead of terror, Akane's foot found a home in the stomach of this poor man. He just woke up today to do his job and scare some kids, instead, his payment was a flying kick from a ridiculously strong girl that sent him to the ground out cold. "Hah, that was easy, he was just a chump."

While Akane was quite proud of bringing down the tower of a man with just one swift kick, Makoto was more panicked than proud as he clutched his head with a stressed expression. Of course, that masked man was just an employee of the Haunted House, and the machete was made of cheap plastic, and it quickly led to them getting banned from entering the place ever again. The girl didn't care too much about it but she did feel bad for Makoto.

"He was carrying a huge knife and waving it while screaming at us, of course, I kicked him!"

"That poor man…" He rubbed his eyes. The ahoge boy wasn't angry at her, in a way it was his fault for insisting with going inside knowing fully the girl's fears, "But why weren't you scared that time?"

"Huh? It was just a dude with a weapon, what's so scary about it?" Another perfect example of the unique logic that the fighting lover had, "Monsters and people aren't scary, you just have to beat them up." She frowned. "But ghosts are different, you can't even touch them and do a lot of freaky stuff."

"_So as long as you can fight them is fine?"_ Makoto couldn't help but smile, it was a very Akane thing, and in some way he understood. You can only be around people with superhuman abilities for so long before common thugs and armed people become tame in comparison. "Okay, let's go into another attraction. One that we'll both enjoy."

Looking around, she saw some kind of giant cups with people inside, they were spinning and laughing. "What's that?"

"Those are Spinning Cups, think you'll like them." With a smile, the boy led the way to the curious attraction, and after a small line, they were sitting inside a huge white cup, a circular plate in the middle. "This is simple, you spin the plate to make it move faster."

As a demonstration, he began to spin it and the giant cup moved as a consequence. Intrigued by it Akane started to do it too, adding more speed to it and the more they spun the more fun it was. Smiling they both began to laugh, it was just a simple thing but it was special simply because they were doing it together.

The wild girl was getting too much into it, in a mix of letting her emotions run free and wanting to know how fast it could go, she began to spin it faster and faster. The centrifuge force so intense that the boy's body began to slip.

"A-Akane not so fast, I'm going to-Woah!"

As expected he couldn't hold to his sit anymore and kinda fly for a second before crashing into Akane with a 'thud'.

"Ugh, sorry I couldn't hold, are you o...kay…" Makoto couldn't finish the question once he saw the position they were in. Thanks to the crash Akane was now laying across the seats, the hands of the teen were resting at the sides of her head while he was on top of her, faces a few inches apart. Strangely, he wasn't nervous to be so close to her in this kind of position, Makoto's mind was clear and could only think about how beautiful she was, his eyes not blinking, "...sorry…"

"I...don't mind…" Akane was in a similar situation, for some reason the boy was so handsome right now that her heart was beating like she just ran a marathon. The distance between their faces began to close and her heart just beat faster, by instinct they closed their eyes. Their hot breath tickling each other lips, closer and closer until…

"Please make sure to walk to the exit once the ride is over."

The voice of the woman managing the attraction snapped them from the romantic moment. Some people were watching them while giggling about how cute they were, others were simply jealous of the couple's closeness. Red as a tomato, Makoto jumped back up while offering Akane a hand to get up. She, of course, accepted it but gave the woman in the booth the stinky eyes for interrupting them.

"B-boy I'm hungry, aren't you hungry? Let's go eat!" Cleary desperate to get away from the place the Luckster walked away at a stiff pace. It's not like he was embarrassed about showing affection in public, but doing it in such fashion and getting so lost in the moment; it was a bit too much for his pure heart.

Wanting to cool down, they ended up in an ice cream parlor that had every flavor under the sun. After picking a table outside to enjoy the weather, both of them choose their orders. Makoto's pick was a vanilla glass cup with chocolate on top, because vanilla was a very delicious but overlooked flavor, or that's what he said.

Akane chose one called "The Arc" which contained a scoop of every flavor in the store besides several pieces of fruit. The poor waitress tried to dissuade the girl by telling her that it was a plate for at least three people, which she took as a challenge. Makoto did his best to ignore the price, it didn't matter today.

"How are you liking the amusement park?" He took a bit of ice cream and put it in his mouth; delicious.

Somehow Akane had devoured a third of her plate already, only stopping to answer the question, "Yeah it's hella fun, I should have come here a long time ago."

"You mentioned that before, that you always wanted to visit one?"

"Yep." Another scoop was consumed, "When I was little I always climbed to high places, like rooftops and such. From there I could see the attractions and people having fun so I wanted to do the same too, but we had no money and even after getting a job I had to take care of my siblings. Guess I just forgot after a while, no big deal."

"What else did you want to do?"

Her eyes went to Makoto's face, a serious expression on his face. It wasn't fair, she was just a normal high school girl like everyone else. Why did she have to live such a hard life and take care of her whole family by herself? Makoto did know, Akane was just like that; protective of the small and weak and the kindest girl he ever met. That's one of the reasons why he fell in love with her. But it was futile crying about the past.

"Anything you wanted to do and couldn't, I want to help you make all your wishes and dreams come true… I will make you happy." Pure determination and will power were burning in his eyes, those words have a heavyweight to them.

"Makoto…" Letting the spoon on the table she began to lean forward to him.

"A-Akane?"

Once again their faces were coming closer to each other, the boy losing himself into her dark grey eyes.

"Boop!"

"H-huh?" The sensation of a poke and something cold on his nose startled Makoto, the girl just booped him with a finger covered in ice-cream.

"You are too tense, relax." A toothy grin was plastered all over her face, wider and brighter than ever before. "Forget about all of that and just focus on having fun."

Makoto chuckled a bit, look like he went too dramatic again, "Yeah you are right, sorry for spoiling the mood."

"You didn't." She licked her lips and let out a satisfied sigh. "I already finished, so we can leave whenever."

"Wait, what? When?"

"While you were speaking about making me happy."

He slumped in his chair like a deflated balloon, "So you were eating…"

When Makoto went to pay for the tasty treats he didn't realize how Akane was looking at his back with kind eyes; he didn't hear her words either.

"I will make you happy too."

**/-/**

The arcade was full of people who preferred the safer emotions of games, but anyone thinking that they weren't as intense as the wildest roller coaster has never fared against Chiaki Nanami on a bad day.

The couple split for a second after playing some DDR; Akane was doing freestyle dance and managed to get a perfect score thanks to her reflex. After she went to the bathroom, Makoto was in front of one of those punching machines that measured one's strength, a screen with three digits was resting on top of a red mat that clearly has seen better days; one doesn't need to be the Ultimate Mechanic or Inventor to figure out how it worked. The boy wasn't on the muscular side of the spectrum but he still figured that it would be fun to give it a try.

"Let's see, one coin for two tries." After fishing for some loose change in his jacket and sliding the coin inside Makoto adopted a fighting position. "Just as Sakura told me; wide stance, shoulders up and twist your body while throwing the punch…"

Following the motions that his friend taught him one day, Makoto hit the mat with all the strength he could muster, a small _thud_ when they collided. The display on top flashed and numbers began to appear at random while the machine calculated the final number.

-086-

At the sight of the number Makoto scratched his cheek, he wasn't expecting anything crazy but reaching the three digits would have been nice. He put himself back in position but a snicker behind him broke his concentration.

"Pffft, did you see that? Laaaaaame." The voice was unmistakably one of a woman and had an annoying bratty quality to it.

"Now, now Babe don't be too harsh with the little boy." This one was a man, his words carried such a haughtiness that could give Byakuya's a run for its money.

Turning his head a bit Makoto saw a man and a woman with smirks full of pure arrogance and snotty, even wearing matching clothes that the teen could only describe as _gaudy_. Apparently, even assholes could find their one-and-only; it was touching in a weird way.

"You are right Snookums~," She said, voice so full of sugar that Makoto wouldn't be surprised if the annoying girl drooled honey. "Maybe he thought that this was the section for kids."

This insults, worthy of a petty school bully, made him think about Chihiro and his problems with not being masculine enough. Makoto and Mondo always told the insecure boy that being a man had nothing to do with being strong. He still believed that but it was hard not to see the programmer's point of view right now. Not wanting to deal with them, the Luckster decided to ignore them, and let a tired sigh. Not in the mood to use his second try, Makoto began to walk away.

**BAM!**

A thunderous sound made everyone around jump in place, and eyes full of shock and surprise landed on the back of a girl in front of the punching machine. Her posture made very obvious that she just used it, once again the numbers flashed randomly before the screen gave the final result.

-874-

"Wh…" The dumbfounded expression on the couple's faces suited them quite well.

"Tsk I wanted to reach at least 900."

More sounds of disbelief came from their open mouths, unable to form coherent words. After scratching her head a bit the strong woman surrounded the teen with her arm, putting him in a tight one arm hug.

"I think we are done here, let's bounce Darling." That last word that Akane spoke had a very obvious tone to it.

"Darling!? Him!?" For his part, the man's voice had a tint of disbelief and a whole lot of jealousy, something that his girlfriend didn't like.

"And why do you care!?"

Makoto and Akane began to walk away from the two idiots, cleary their love was pure and true.

"I d-don't care, believe me, Babe. Besides, no way that such a hottie is going out with that lose-"

He didn't finish that sentence. A bone-chilling sensation coursed through both of their bodies, then they saw it. Akane was glaring at them over her shoulder, her eyes piercing their very souls, just like a ferocious beast ready to pounce and tear them to shreds in an instant. Catching the message, the two asshats ran away in fear.

Some people categorized Makoto as someone dense; sure he had moments where some things went over his head, but this wasn't one of them. He knew that Akane defended him and Makoto felt bad about it, not because of some dumb things like 'the man has to be the one protecting' but because he didn't want Akane to go out of her way every time an idiot called him names.

"Akane, I'm s-"

"Don't." "She cut him off before he could finish, gaze forward and serious. "You didn't do anything to be sorry for, so don't apologize."

Makoto felt her hand squeezing his shoulder with care and bring his body a bit closer to hers. Just walking around together and sharing warmth; it felt good.

"Thanks." A ghost of a smile on his lips.

Akane pouted a bit. "I did want to get a higher score. I bet that the old man or Sakura could do it."

"Now Makoto was chuckling out loud. "Hahaha...pretty sure they could break it."

His hand rested on her hip before squeezing back.

**/-/**

The date was going great, sure there were a few bumps along the way, but the overall note was positive. It was getting late as the sun began to set, however, there was time for one last activity, one that every couple should do at the end of their date.

No, it's not sex. Get your mind out of the gutter.

It was the Ferris Wheel, a classic attraction for couples. At least that was all those romance animes said and we all know that those are 100% faithful to real life. Both of them looked up the tall structure. Sure, they will be high up but it moved so slow that Makoto could handle it. Probably.

Once inside, they sat in front of each other so they could watch the view freely, and the cart began to rise up in the air at a slow pace. More and more of the city began to appear before their eyes, the orange light of the sunset illuminating the buildings, giving them an almost mystical aura. The Ferris Wheel stopped just when they were at the highest point, a perfect view of the park and the city. Finally, Makoto's luck was working in his favor.

"Check it out, you can see Hope's Peak from here." Akane stood up, hand against the glass to see better.

"Yeah." Makoto was looking at her. Seeing her so happy and with so much childlike wonder filled his heart with a warm fuzzy feeling. God, what a dork. "I had a lot of fun today, more than when I came here with my family."

Akane sat down again, though this time she was next to him. "How's that? Pretty sure they don't force you into the rollercoaster."

"Hahaha my little sister tries but that's not what I'm talking about." He glanced down, to his fingers fidgeting with nerves. "When I'm with you everything is just...amazing, no matter what it is, as long as I'm doing it with you." Cheeks red and voice soft, it was embarrassing opening like this all of a sudden.

"Look at me."

"Wha-"

The moment he lifted his head Makoto's lips locked with Akane's, eyes widening in surprise. They were soft and sent a shiver down his back that pooled in his stomach. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to melt. Here there were no curious eyes of people to interrupt them, just the two of them reveling in such a simple but, oh so delightful, activity. After what felt like half an hour the cart began to descend and the two of them broke apart.

"I bet that was fun too." She had a cheeky smile too, but that grin couldn't hide the slight darkening of her cheeks.

"I don't know...think that I have to try again to be sure."

He wasn't that slick. "Nha, it's only one for a ride and if you don't use it, you lose it."

Makoto began to pout in protest but the only thing Akane gave him was a stern look. After a minute they began to laugh. God what dorks.

Once outside, both of them walked to the exit, less crowded because of how late it was. At that moment Makoto had an idea and took his cell phone.

"Let's take a picture, that way we will have something to remember this day." They tried to buy something in the arcade with the tickets they won, sadly the only thing they could afford was a tiny keychain with a monochromatic bear on it. For some strange reason, they hated it.

They both got closer to each other..Akane was the one grabbing the phone so they would have some room for the selfie. The sign of 'La-la-land' was above them as a landmark, both of them were sporting happy smiles, Makoto was giving a peace sign to the camera while Akane was winking at it. With an audible click, the moment was immortalized. Mahiru could give them some tips about it but even she could agree on one thing: they had radiant smiles.

The trip back was a calm one, the two teens talking about their favorite parts of the date and where they should go next. They kept doing small talk until they reached Makoto's dorm room, she was adamant that the one being guarded was him.

"I'm spent." A long stretch followed those words, "Tomorrow we should take it easy."

Akane nodded in agreement, "We can get snacks and chill watching something some movie."

"Yeah, movie and chilling sound cool." Before wishing each other goodnight Makoto stepped closer, this time he was the one going for the kiss. The Luckster swore that he would never get tired of them and the tingling sensation that came along with it.

She didn't say it but Akane felt the same way, "Hey, I told you that it was only one kiss per ride."

"We did 'ride' the bus." He cheekily pointed a smirk on his face.

"Heh, you got me there…good night Makoto, love you."

"I love you too, good night."

Sometimes the things we remember fondly are the most simple little things; the sight of seeing your loved one with their hair a bit different, the way their laugh echoes in your ears, or how sweet a kiss is when you are above everything.

Those are the memories that can bring a smile to one's face only by remembering them.

And they intended to create many more.

For this had been only the first date of many to come.

**Omake:**

Hiyoko was extremely displeased, to say the least. One minute she was minding her own business without disturbing anyone -ants weren't people so they don't count- and the next this gorilla in a suit brought her to a creepy lab, full of even more creepy bugs. Thank God they were all in cages along the walls, but that wasn't the worst part of all of this, oh no.

"And this bug friend is a Bombardier beetle, they belong to the Carabidae family. They are very little but can fire a mixture of chemicals that reach the 100 degrees Celsius, very hot so Hiyoko should be careful."

It was this bug lover creep, he had been talking for hours about them and called it Meet and Greet or some garbage. Seriously, who cares about all of that? A creepy bug is a creepy bug and that's that!

"Oh and this one is a Dinastes hercu-"

"I don't care!" Finally, the dancer exploded, throwing her hands in the hair with a huff. "I get it no more squeezing stupid ants, can I go now?"

The glasses wearer looked anxious, it was a start but he truly wanted for the smaller girl to see how wonderful and not scary insects can be. It was a shame that the Headmaster prohibited letting them out of the cages after the last Meet and Greet. Apparently, some people got really scared.

In a rare moment of clarity Gonta's red eyes lit up, "Gonta got it!" Ignoring the annoyed grunts of the girl, the entomologist made his way to one of the walls of the lab. A few seconds later he came back to the table where he and Hiyoko were having a 'friendly talk'.

She opened one eye to see what kind of slimy or multi-legged thing he brought. Another eye opened, curiosity on both of them as she scooted a bit closer. "Is that...a chrysalis?"

The muscular teen smiled in response, the chrysalis was pale-green with small golden dots near the bottom and a gold-and-black rim around the dorsal side near the top. It hung from a sturdy branch inside of the plastic box that protected the fragile insect.

"It's a Monarch butterfly after the caterpillar reaches the last step, it forms a pupa around itself and after some time a butterfly emerges. This one should be hatching soon"

Right, she at least knew that much thanks to a combination of TV and common knowledge. Still, he will need more than a green sack to change her opinion on-

_Twitch._

"It moved!" The blond girl scooted even closer to the box, wonder replacing malice in her orange eyes.

"Really?" The Behemoth of a man used his perfect sight to confirm that the chrysalis was, in fact, moving. "We are really lucky!"

The green mass twitched again and again but after a few minutes the girl grew anxious, no matter how much it moved, the butterfly wasn't coming out.

"Hey, shouldn't you help it or something? Looks like it has trouble."

"Gonta can not do that." A hint of sadness in her gentle gaze. "It has to come out by itself or else it will lack the strength to fly later on."

It made sense, even if you are pretty or skilled one needs strength to survive, if not you will be squeezed without remorse. The Saionji family taught her that.

The dancer's mind got pulled away from those grim memories the moment a tiny black leg pierced the husk from inside, another one came to assist and the slick body of the insect began making its way out. In less than a minute, it's whole body emerged, wings wet and crumpled on the back of the bug. However, as it hung down they began to expand and dry, stiffening as they acquired a black, orange, and white pattern similar to the clothes of the girl. Such a girl let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

"Thank goodness, friend butterfly looks healthy. Let's see if it wants to meet us." A powerful hand took off the cover of the box with practiced ease.

The insect's wings quivered a bit before they started flapping and in a moment it was flying. Testing its new wings the butterfly made a few circles around the room before something caught its attention. The floral pattern on the dancer's kimono seemed very real to the hungry insect and flew closer to her until it landed softly onto one of Hiyoko's sleeves.

For Gonta's relief, she didn't slap it away, instead, Hiyoko slowly raised her arm until the creature was at eye level with her. "It is...kinda pretty for a bug."

Pure Gonta took that as an honest compliment and walked a bit closer to look too, "Butterflies are a bit like people, even if they are a bit bad at first, they can change into something really nice with enough work."

At that the older girl gave a snarky smile, eyes glancing at him sideways. "So? Gonna tell me that I can change too? I don't see that happening any time soon."

At that, the aspiring gentleman smiled at her, not a shadow of malice on his expression. "Gonta sure that Hiyoko can do it too, she already pretty as butterfly after all."

Just like the wings of the butterfly that left her sleeve, Hiyoko's heart fluttered.

Maybe bugs weren't so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, folks!
> 
> I want to give my deepest apologies to all the ones who puked rainbows thanks to the excessive fluff at the end.
> 
> Jokes aside, I bet a lot of you are thinking: "What's with that Omake? Do you ship Gonta and Hiyoko?"
> 
> The short answer is no, the long answer is also no. Buuut since this fic started with a rare pair I thought that it would be fun seeing some others spark, like a chain reaction. There will be "normal" ones too but don't worry they wouldn't be the main focus. This is still a Naewari fic.
> 
> With that out of the way, maybe I should try to do some short chapter instead of going crazy writing longs chapters all the time.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and I will see you next time.
> 
> PD: Yeah I know that butterfly's wings need hours to expand and dry. Just imagine that it's the Ultimate Butterfly or something…


	5. Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, my friends! It's been a while since I updated this huh? My apologies, but I wanted to try my hand at writing some ideas that were plaguing my mind.
> 
> You can see the results if you read Intense Love and Pleasant Surprise. But watch out, that last one is for adults only.
> 
> Now before you jump into the story, I will recommend an author just like I always do at the start. I know it's weird for me to do it when they are much more well known than me. But if even one of you gets to know a great story or author, that you didn't know before, then I'm satisfied.
> 
> Anyway, today I recommend the author called BakaOniisan (BakaJuan if you read in Ao3). Someone that has very interesting ideas and, in my opinion, can write very well heartwarming stuff of things that will destroy your poor beating organ. Also, they do fanart of their own fics (again in Ao3).
> 
> I recommend you their story called Normality in Lobotomy, a cool crossover of Danganronpa and Lobotomy Corporation. In other words, Makoto has to deal with a bunch of strange things out of this world.
> 
> Let's end this intro already and jump into the chapter, shall we?
> 
> The beta-read of this chapter is BlueBoxy.
> 
> Timeline
> 
> 1<3<2<4<5

It was time for Class 78 to do their scheduled PE time; today their class would take place in the pool, something that made a certain girl really happy. But before that, they needed to change into their swimsuits, unless the students wanted to spend the rest of the day in soggy clothes.

The 16 students broke into two groups and entered their respective lockers.

The female locker was a place of mystery and wonder, no one truly knew what kind of ancient secrets that holy land guarded, except the girls themselves of course. That's why, to preserve such secrecy, we are gonna focus on the boy's locker room.

The male students of Class 78 were changing clothes with different rates of success: Mondo and Taka were shirtless and having a really loud flex off, muscles rippling and bulging. Chihiro was close by watching with admiration and a tinge of envy in his eyes, shirt still in place as the embarrassment of showing his body to others was very much present.

Hifumi decided to perform a goofy belly dance that Hiro seemed to enjoy quite a bit if the way he was laughing and pointing was any indication. Disgusted by such plebeian display Byakuya was away from their antics, his expensive-looking suit neatly folded in a bench. The physique of the heir was lean and in all honesty pretty normal, it isn't like he was in bad shape or anything but it was clear that exercise wasn't given too much time in the blonde's busy schedule.

In front of a full-size mirror was Leon Kuwata, doing silly poses and admiring himself with a grin. One thing that he loved about baseball was that it gave him a 'killer bod' as the fake redhead liked to say, and in his warped perception that made him a magnet to all the chicks. The baseball star took a little break from his 'gun show' to watch the last member of the 'dudes club'.

Makoto was in the corner of the room, swim trunks already on and black jacket on the locker, but there was something strange about him. His short-sleeved hoodie was still wrapping his torso, the zipper of it being fumbled with while the boy seemed to be mulling over something.

Being his good friend, Leon walked closer with a grin on his face, "Hey dude, I know you love your hoodie but you have to take it off."

Makoto snapped out of whatever he was thinking and looked at the baseball star, he seemed anxious. "Oh yeah...hmm, I think that I'm gonna leave it on. It's a bit chilly today."

"Chilly huh?" Leon didn't buy this for even a second. A mischievous grin replaced the friendly one from before, "Don't tell me you're embarrassed. We won't laugh even if you are scrawny."

"What? No that's n-"

"An opening!"

The moment the luckster dropped his guard, a teasing Leon lunged at him. Two pairs of hands fighting for the control of that tiny piece of metal, the athletic boy was surprised by how much trouble Makoto gave him.

"Knock it off! You are making this weird!" The hotshot teen struggled.

"You are the one being weird!" Makoto lamely responded in panic.

_Ziiiiiiiiiiip~_

Finally, the zipper went down, revealing what it was hidden between its folds.

"..."

"..."

"...Leon?"

"Guys, Makoto is ripped!"

Such a preposterous claim got everyone in the room to turn to the pair, some of them were surprised while others just rolled their eyes in disbelief. However, everybody got closer to see what nonsense the redhead was spewing, once they got a peek everyone grew silent.

Leon was, as usual, exaggerating. It was obvious that the body of the boy was different from the last time they visited the pool. Makoto's torso was more defined, with pecs and abs that were visible. Still, they weren't as prominent or big as the rest of his more active classmates, but now there was something there and it gave him a more boyish look to him.

"Finally you reached puberty, dude." The older of them rubbed his stubble with a smile, "Soon you will be shaving and all."

That little comment, combined by the fact that he was the center of attention made him very self-conscious. "I already reached puberty, thank you very much!" Blushing a bit, the Luckster decided that it was too late for secrets anyway.

Taking off his hoodie revealed that those noodle arms were now packing some meat. Forearms and biceps a bit wider.

"Not bad, now you are starting to look like a real man." Makoto knew that Mondo was sincere, but it did come as a bit condescending coming from the strongest guy in class.

"The manly way…" Someone really had to have a conversation with the programmer about gender roles. But for now, Chihiro was holding his arm up, hand rubbing his non-existent bicep.

"You have the right idea Makoto! One must care for their body as well as their mind." Taka turned shooted a disapproving glance at one of his classmates, "You could follow his example Hifumi."

The objective of that verbal jab, pushed his round glasses up, a gleam in them. "For your information, I do take care of myself. I always do my stretches before and after drawing, and only drink Diet Coke."

"That doesn't really count."

"Heeeeeeh? But it is the diet version!" The artist was in shock, though everyone was curious how those slim legs of him could support such a round body.

"I must say, didn't expect you to put any effort into improving yourself. You have my praise" The heir of the Togamy empire gave him a compliment, or at least the closest thing to one. "Though, I must question what brought this change."

"Heh, isn't it obvious?" Disregarding the concept of personal space, Leon wrapped an arm around Makoto's shoulders and gave him a wink. "The little guy has to improve his stamina now that he has a girlfriend."

"It's good to know that your priorities are still in order, Leon." The Luckster just rolled his eyes, he has gotten better at ignoring the teasing of his friend, even if he was kind of right for once…

A scoff was the answer of the blonde, who gave an eye roll of his own. "Go figure, it's so hard for you to try and do something for your own volition?"

Surprisingly it was the baseball pro who stepped up, "Hey, nothing wrong with trying to look good for the person you like, man.

Of course, Byakuya was dissatisfied with the answer, few things satisfied the blonde anyway. "If you hadn't the drive to improve for yourself before being in a relationship, then you had little love for yourself. After all, there is no one more important in your life than you." Did he just admit that anyone had their own worth? Was he sick or something?

"Okay, okay settle down you two." The brunette walked between the two boys, he wasn't mad at them in the slightest. Makoto knew them well enough to know that they were just trying to help in their own way. "I do agree with you Byakuya, people should be trying to improve from their own sake. But sometimes one has to get some extra motivation, besides I kinda enjoy it myself. If I spend a day lazing around I get restless, and Nidai helps me a lot too."

The tall heir pushed his glasses up with a finger before speaking, "As true as that may be, you still didn't tell us the reason you began in the first place."

"W-well…" All the confidence he had, banished to let embarrassment take place. "I...wanted Akane to think that I'm cool…" Makoto placed his hands on his face to cover the blush that was taking hold of it.

"Hah, I knew it, you sly dog." The way Leon's elbow was poking at the Luckster's side, was more playful than the other times he did it.

"Hmph, at least you are sincere about it." Byakuya looked pleased with himself. "I guess that's good enough, but if you lose motivation along the way be sure that I will be there to rub it on your face."

"What a good friend.." The clairvoyant whispered under his breath but flinched when the blonde shot him a glare.

"You know, not to interrupt this whole talk about motivation and shit...but shouldn't we go to meet the girls."

Taka took a look at his wristwatch and the face of the Moral Compass turned white as chalk. "Oh my goodness! We are three minutes late! Sorry, everyone, I should have been more vigilant about the time."

"No time for dramatism, let's go."

All of them left the locker room in a messy line, which made poor Taka even more anxious. The air around the pool was slightly colder but nothing too bad, if the teacher that was acting as a lifeguard -a woman with a get-up similar to Hina's- noticed that the boys were late, she sure didn't show it.

By now, Makoto had enough attention for one day. So he made a beeline to the mass of water, sadly a pair of hands stopped his advance by holding him in place.

"Hey ladies, check Mr. Muscles over here!"

"Leon, sometimes I really hate you…"

"It's part of being friends, man. Messing with each other." Makoto made sure to remember those words…

The small talk and occasional splatter of water came to a halt, now it was the girl's turn to see what all the fuss was about. After a few seconds of calm, came the reactions.

"Yeah boy~ looking good!" A wet thumbs up and those reassuring words came from the Queen of the pool, Hina always said that Makoto would look better with more meat on his bones. Then again she had a thing for muscles.

"You do seem healthier." The gruff voice of Sakura stated, arms crossed and a soft smile on her face. "I can see you are doing your best, keep at it and you will be surprised how far you can go."

"Hmmm, I do prefer my servants to be slim and elegant." This kind of talk could only be Celeste's, who wasn't even in a swimsuit, much less in the water. Her make up wasn't waterproof after all. "But I can accept it."

A soft giggle made the boy look at her old friend, "I pity poor Akane, she will be fighting girls off of you from now on. Actually, she will probably enjoy it." Sayaka giggled again and winked at the boy, clearly teasing him.

"N-now, don't say things like that." Suddenly someone made a perfect wolf whistle. Turning the mild blush of his cheeks into a crimson fire, extending to her ears too. "W-who did that!?"

Makoto looked around in confusion, most of his classmates sharing a hearty laugh. The Luckster failed to see the sly smirk in Kyoko's face, she was proud of herself.

All that laughter died when a hellish screech sliced the air, everyone glanced at the source. A very scared Toko, who like Celeste refused to change or get into the water. She was pulling on one of her braids and pointing at the pool with a shaky hand.

"B-b-b-b-blood!" The poor girl was doing her best to fight her fear of the red liquid, having her other self appear in a room full of half-naked boys was a terrible idea.

All the people in the room followed the finger, then they saw it. The body of a girl with black air was floating face down, the trail of blood slowly diluting in the water.

"Mukuro?" The teacher left her spot in a rush, ready to dive into the pool. "Did she hit her head?"

"Ugh, relaaaaaax she is fine." Her dearest sister was at her side, playing with a strand of wet air. Junko wasn't really impressed nor interested in the boring conversation everyone was having. "This gross sister of mine just got too excited."

With a neutral expression, the fashionista grabbed her twin's shoulder and flipped over. The soldier's face was a deep shade of red, blood was flowing down her nose while she mumbled incoherent things under her breath.

Junko rolled her eyes in sheer disappointment. "It's not even that impressive."

With that the mood lightened again, some more people laughed at the antics of the sisters as Sakura helped one of her sparring partners out of the water.

The teacher rubbed the bridge of her nose, she felt tired. "Why can't we have a normal class?"

** _/-/_ **

The loud ring of the bell signaled the end of today's class, chairs being dragged and the voices of students added to the cacophony in the room. But somehow a voice raised above all the noise, not because it was yelling but because of the authority behind it.

"Remember my dear rotten oranges, I want you to do the homework even if it's optional. Keep those young brains working."

The Ultimate Housekeeper and teacher of class 77-B, Chisa Yukizome, had a motherly but strict presence. Sure, things, like pulling a blade on a student or tying them up like a ham, could be quite unorthodox in a normal school. Normal, being the keyword. Her students responded and went on with their day, the teacher stayed behind to work on some paperwork, and once she was done the mature woman saw that she wasn't alone. Some of her students preferred to stay in the class for a while instead of joining the agglomeration of people outside, each one doing something to kill time.

Chiaki had two favorite activities; sleeping and gaming. And right now she was showing off her status of Ultimate Gamer by doing the two of them at the same time. Her head nodding while a snot bubble grew and shrunk with each breath, hands using pure muscular memory to press a complicated sequence of buttons at high speed. It was fairly impressive, but Chisa knew that the girl needed a proper sleep schedule.

Sitting on the windowsill was Hiyoko Saionji, pondering intensely as she watched her own hand. Squinting her eyes the teacher could see a ladybug walking on top of the dancer's hand, this came as odd to the older woman. Any other day Hiyoko would already smack or squashed the defenseless bug, but now she was just gazing at it and Chisa could sense that she was deep in thought. Slowly the blond girl extended her arm outside the window to let the small creature fly into the open, after a small sigh she dusted her kimono and walked out the classroom.

Chisa couldn't help to smile, it was a small thing but seeing one of her students grow into a better person always filled her heart with pride.

There was another lady still on her seat, Akane Owari was balancing on the back legs of her chair with practiced ease, a pencil between her nose and upper lip like imitating a mustache: A _pencilstache_, if you will. Those dark gray eyes of her were focusing intensely on a Math book.

"...huh?" The redhead teacher rubbed her eyes and looked again, it was still a book about math.

Chisa stood and walked closer in complete silence, like a hunter stalking her prey or a photographer trying to take a shoot or a beautiful animal. Sadly she wasn't no sneak master and the student ended up looking at her, If only Chisa had a black cap her stealth would have been perfect.

Akane lifted her gaze from the book and grinned at the housekeeper, the _pencilstache _falling on the table. "Hey Chisa, how you doing?"

Using their first name when talking to a teacher was poor manners, but Chisa had more pressing matters to attend so she let it slide.

"I'm good Akane, just curious about what you were doing."

"Oh." The girl changed her sitting position to a more normal one, shifting her gaze to the pages full of numbers and symbols. "I'm studying."

There are moments in life when one realizes that they just heard a person saying something for their first time in their life. The teacher knew that this was one of those moments, she looked at her student with a preoccupied expression.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Sure, why do you ask?" The tanned girl tilted her head with a curious face.

"Sorry, that was rude of me. Please go on with your study session."

She felt bad about making that question, as her teacher Chisa knew that Akane's talent didn't lie in academics. But as a teacher she must believe in the desire of the students to better themselves, her gaze fixated on her student as Akane stared at the page. A minute passed, then another. The page remained unturned. "Akane, something wrong?"

The girl didn't respond, she kept looking fiercely at the book. Suddenly a bit of steam came out of her ears and she faceplanted onto the desk. "Ugh...this is hard…"

Chisa blinked and giggled softly, dragging a chair closer before sitting next to the girl. "Here let me help you."

Time passed and some things needed to be explained several times, but the progress she was making couldn't be denied. "I get it! If I want to know this, what I have to do is use this formula."

"Exactly! That problem was a hard one, good work."

Their cheers were so loud that they managed to wake up the sleeping beauty that was Chiaki, the Gamer looked at the two with curiosity as she cleaned the drool from her mouth with the sleeve of her hoodie. Her brain was still half asleep so the pink-haired girl was having trouble comprehending what was going on, but seeing them so happy made her happy. With a soft smile, she walked out in silence to give them some privacy.

"If you keep working hard like this your grades will improve in no time."

"Really? Awesome!" The wild girl's eyes shined with glee, it felt good overcoming an obstacle that wasn't a physical one for once.

The woman with the ponytail smiled too, sharing the happiness of her student. But something was bubbling inside her chest. Biting her lower lip, she averted her gaze to the side, not really sure if a teacher should stick their nose into a student's personal life.

Steeling herself Chisa spoke, "Akane, I'm very happy to see you putting the effort but I'm also curious. Did something happen?"

The girl's excitement dimmed at the question, her eyes looking down. "Nah, just felt like it." Now the gymnast seemed more interested in scribbling in the corners of her notebook.

Such an obvious lie didn't go over Chisa's head, with a comforting smile she let her hand rest on the girl's. "Akane I'm your teacher, one of my duties is to worry about you. Whatever it is I promise not to tell anyone."

The girl took a moment to respond, lowering that wall that was her pride. "Because I'm dumb."

Such a simple statement that was, but it made the heart of the teacher flinch in pain. "That's not-"

"It's fine." Akane leaned back into the chair, shrugging her shoulders as she closed her eyes. "Never cared if people thought that of me, and if they were really annoying I just kicked them around a bit."

The sadness that Chisa's eyes showed didn't go away, "What changed then?"

"Ugh, is just...stupid." She opened her eyes and frowned, hands balling into fists. "I don't care but he always gets so mad about it."

"Makoto, right?" The woman already knew the answer to her own question, but she hoped that the name of the boy calmed her temper.

It worked, the girl relaxed and let out a sigh. "I know he is angry on my behalf but...part of me thinks that he gets angry because he can't tell that they are wrong." Akane glanced at her hands, light marks of her nails digging into the palm. "Even if I know isn't true…"

"Sometimes, feelings can cloud your judgment and make you doubt things that you already know. You have to take hold of them and work to resolve them." Her face showed a gentle smile. "That's why you are doing this, right?"

"Yeah, and for the kids too." Determination began to show itself on the girl's features. "To inspire them to never give up even with the things that are hard, that's my job as the big sister." Akane's confidence came back at full force, she couldn't help but grin. "Makoto will brag about how her girlfriend is awesome AND smart!"

The heartfelt laugher of Chisa filled the classroom, glad that her precious student was feeling better. "Oh my, what a lucky boy he is."

"Yeah, he is the Ultimate Lucky student." The girl said matter of factly. "The other day we went to an amusement park, they are really fun you know?"

"Hehehe you don't say? I'm jealous now." Now the teacher was playing along with her, this was also a good opportunity to learn a bit more about her student's love life. She was a bit of a sucker for those things.

"Does your boyfriend take you on dates?" The poor girl could never imagine the kind of reaction, such a simple and pure question could cause.

** _SNAP_ **

The sudden sound made Akane jolt in her seat, searching for the source she saw that Chisa snapped a pencil between her fingers.

"No, he doesn't." The woman was smiling and had her eyes closed, but her voice had a strange edge to it. "But it's fine, he is working on several projects."

"I see." Akane learned a lot of things today, knowing when to stop talking wasn't one of them. "Sounds like an excuse, though."

Chisa's smile tightened into a thin line, the temperature of the room lowering a bit. "It can't be helped, adults can be really busy."

Akane could still retreat, step back, and let this brewing storm alone. "But if he really loves you, he should make time for you. Right?" She didn't.

"EXACTLY!" The teacher slammed her hands on the desk so hard that the whole thing trembled. "WOULD IT KILL HIM TO TAKE A DAY OFF? OR TO CALL ME TO SEE HOW I'M DOING? BUT NOOOOOOOO, IT'S ALWAYS WORK, WORK AND WORK! CAN'T HE SEE THAT I'M STARVED ROMANTICALLY?"

There were few things that the combative girl was scared of, and her teacher just made it into that exclusive list. The eyes of the woman were bloodshot and she huffed and puffed like a wild beast, but when the Chisa saw her student sweating and trembling on her seat, she calmed down.

"I'm...sorry, please just forget about that slip." She was now sad and embarrassed, how could a grown-up woman like her explode like that? And in front of her own student too. Such disgrace...

"Professor…" It was the first time that Akane spoke to her in such a formal tone, it surprised the woman greatly. "Maybe I can lend you Makoto for one date. But just one! And better not try anything weird either!"

Chisa looked at the girl with wide eyes, the serious expression on her face combined with such a strange proposition caused a reaction in the woman.

Chisa began to laugh.

"Hahaha oh my, how generous of you." Still giggling she whipped her eye from a stray tear, this time a genuine smile adorned the face of the teacher. "Thank you, I appreciate it." Her hand reached for Akane's head, petting it softly. "But your teacher doesn't feel alone, because she has the best students in the world."

"Okay." The Gymnast seemed a bit relieved, she wanted to help her teacher, sure. But she also didn't want to share Makoto too much, what if I began charming other girls? Or even boys? Sure fighting them off would be fun, but Akane also wanted some alone time with him. "It's gotten late, better go to my room and do that homework." Her stomach, however, had other plans and communicated them with a loud growl. "But first a trip to the kitchen to get supplies hehe. Bye Chisa!"

She let out a small sigh, the woman wished that Akane called her teacher or professor, and also that she didn't use the window to leave instead of the door. But alas, every single one of her precious students was quirky in their own ways.

And she loved all of them.

**Omake:**

The teacher's lounge was mostly empty after class hours, at the time only two people were in it. Juzo Sakakura was relaxing on the couch with a cup of coffee in his hands, he was probably tired of beating up kids or something. The other was Chisa Yukizome, phone close to her ear.

A calm male voice was coming out of the device, "The construction it's going as planned."

"I see."

"We should finish it right on schedule." The person speaking was Kyosuke Munakata, he was working overseas on the development of a new branch of Hope's Peak.

"Good."

"Did you make the list of potential employees as I asked?"

"Mhm."

"...are you okay?" The stuck up man had no idea of what he just unleashed on his pale ass.

"Oh, so you do care? Could've fooled me." The contempt dripping off Chisa's voice was so strong that Kyosuke could almost taste through the phone.

"What? Chisa what is this all about?" Utter confusion laced the voice of the man.

"If you don't even know, then it mustn't be that important for you. Or maybe it's me who isn't important?"

This phone call turned into an emotional minefield, a wrong step and the white-haired man won't leave unharmed.

"Is this about that silly date thing?" And he just jumped face-first into one. Amazing.

The teacher gritted her pearly teeth so hard, that it was a miracle they didn't burst. She did though. "Have fun kissing that building then! Because you aren't kissing me for a long time!"

Chisa ended the call, she had to resist the urge to smash the damn cell phone against the ground, those things were expensive.

"That went well." The eternal third wheel chipped in from his spot.

Now, Chisa was a polite and kind woman, but everyone has a limit. So she decided to let out some steam, far away from sensitive ears. "Fuck that guy."

"God I wish…" The boxer muttered under his breath, chugging that coffee to try and quench his thirst.

"Maybe Akane's offer still stands…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> Another chapter is done, and I'm glad that I managed to keep this one short...kind off. While writing this chapter, I realized that every chapter has a bit of angst/drama in it. Wasn't my intention at all but I guess it works balancing the fluff.
> 
> This will come as random, but I never liked it very much when a character is excessively bashed in a fic. For me, it always comes as somewhat petty, even if said character deserves it in some way.
> 
> Did I enjoy making fun of Punch-man and Katana-man in the omake, then? You bet that I did, hypocrisy be damned.
> 
> I want to thank you all, for your support on this story and the others. You guys keep me going.


	6. Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, everyone! Bet some of you thought that this story was abandoned. Shame on you!
> 
> Jokes aside, I wanted to apologize for taking so long with this chapter. Inspiration went on and off a few times and the chapter kept getting longer and longer, till it was the longest thing I wrote till today.
> 
> But I didn't give up and now you all can, hopefully, enjoy the next chapter of Strange Lovers and let me tell you, it's a special one.
> 
> This chapter was edited by TheLadyRedHeart and BlueBoxy.
> 
> Timeline
> 
> 6<1<3<2<4<5

Beginnings are a curious thing; everyone and everything has one, no matter if it's big or small. Sometimes, the people involved in them just think that it's a normal day without relevance like the rest.

At least, this was the case for the tanned girl that was resting on a bench, her toned body laying sideways on the public space like it was the sofa of her house. Akane let out a yawn and scratched her belly; boredom was taking hold of the girl as time went on. Classes were over for today, but she hadn't anything to do that Friday.

Nidai was out of the school helping train the local volleyball team and the rest of her classmates were doing their homework. In retrospect, Akane should be working on that too but it isn't like it was obligatory and the girl wasn't good at it anyway.

She could always use her exceptional physical abilities to climb the main building of the Academy; the view from up there was breathtaking. There was a little problem, however.

_Grooooowl_

Akane was hungry. Not, 'I can't even move' hungry but the girl knew if she started moving around too much, it would get worse.

The gymnast let out a tired yawn and began walking with no real destination in mind. After _someone _mysteriously raided the kitchen one too many times, the staff of the school placed a guard to look over it and a sturdy lock on the fridge just to make sure.

At least, Akane could search for some lost change under the vending machines, all in hopes of finding enough for a snack. Another wave of tiredness hit the tanned girl, which caused another yawn. It was enough of a distraction for the girl to not see the figure that just turned the corner.

"Ugh!"

Akane felt something crashing against her but the impact was so soft that she didn't move where she was. The girl glanced at the noise she heard just after the collision, her eyes landing in the form of a short boy sitting on the floor with a big paper bag on his hands and a funny hair spike.

The boy shuffled on the spot, the expression on his face showing that it wasn't a gentle landing. His hazel eyes looked up to meet with her dark gray ones, the boy's brain took a second to register what happened.

"Ah, so sorry I wasn't looking. Are you okay?" He asked with worry in his eyes, even if it was clear that the one who took the worst of it was him.

Akane was mildly surprised at his question, she was clearly taller than the boy and had a sturdier build, gifted by genes and a life of running and fights. That and the fact that she was the one standing right now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here let me help you." The girl reached for the boy, putting her hands under his armpits she lifted him from the ground with ease, before settling him down again.

"W-wow, thanks." His voice was soft but had a bit of surprise in it, his cheeks warm and pink, maybe because a girl just lifted him like a plushie. The boy managed to shake it all away before speaking.

"Sorry, I didn't tell you my name. I'm Makoto Naegi from Class 78, a pleasure to meet you." He wanted to hold a hand to her but the heavy bag prevented him from doing so.

She didn't seem to mind as the girl put a hand on her hip, striking a confident pose. "Name is Akane Owari, nice to meet ya! I'm in the Class 77-B so guess I am your Senpai, not like I care about those things."

Makoto smiled at those words, he was glad that Akane was so laid back, others would have blown the small accident out of proportion. He gave a small bow as a goodbye and turned around to go back to his day. However, a loud growl froze him in place, it was as if a lion suddenly materialized behind the boy's back and was ready to pounce him.

Makoto slowly turned around but there was no lion, at least not one in animal form, it was his new acquaintance rubbing her stomach with a downcast glance. _"That noise... did she make it?"_

"Yeah, yeah I know you are hungry..." She tried to calm down her stomach but words weren't enough to fill it.

Makoto looked over them with a bit of a frown, after thinking for a second the boy tried to balance himself in one leg, while the other was being used to hold the bag up.

His hands opened the brown container and took something out of it, walking closer Makoto offered it to the girl. "Here, you can have this."

"Huh? What's this?" Oh, she knew exactly what it was. The round, white form. That delicious smell of flour and meat and the way the steam rose from it. There was no doubt it was a...

"A meat bun!" He completed the thought, slightly waving the tasty food in front of her, "You are hungry right?"

Akane's stomach answered for her with another growl. Of course, she knew what a meat bun was, what the girl didn't understand was why he was giving it to her? People didn't just give free food away to others and isn't like Akane was someone weak that couldn't get food on her own. Not like weak people got help anyway.

Still, the delicious aroma of the meat was chipping away her resistance, saliva pooling inside her mouth. "Hey, you sure about that? I'm going to eat it you know?" She was trying to resist, but a bit of drool was escaping her mouth.

Makoto let out a nervous chuckle, feeling like he was about to lose a hand. "Of course, don't worry, I have a bag full of them."

He declared with a smile, but it quickly changed into a look of bewilderment. The boy blinked and the next thing he knew, his hand was empty and Akane's cheeks were full.

She chewed loudly but with a happy smile that Makoto couldn't help but find endearing, "_Gulp. _That hits the spot! Thanks, dude, it was nice of you."

"Don't mention it, just trying to help and all." He smiled back, seeing someone so happy with something he gave them made him happy. "Ah! I'm running late, it was nice meeting you Akane. Bye!"

After waving goodbye to each other, grey eyes followed the boy's back as he walked to the school building at a fast pace. _"How weird, why did he give me that without asking for something back? Well, better not think about it too much or I will get hungry again."_

A few minutes later, Makoto entered his classroom, wiping away some sweat from his face. Fifteen very hungry students locked eyes on him the second he stepped inside.

"Finally, we were starting to believe that you somehow managed to fail such a menial task." The eternal rain cloud that was Byakuya sneered at him; a growling stomach didn't improve his mood or attitude.

"Sorry, sorry, the line was too long and I got a bit distracted." Choosing to ignore the hurtful comment, Makoto began to hand the contents of the bags to all his classmates. Getting food for everyone wasn't something that the boy did every day, but as usual, his luck was to blame for it.

It had been the start of lunchtime and a certain blonde fashionista couldn't be bothered to make a trip to the cafeteria. A smirk appeared at the thought of sending her sister to bring her food but it changed into a frown. _"Too easy, too boring." _A wide smile claimed her features again as she clapped her hands together. "Hey everyone~ I thought of something fun."

"Oh no, t-the last time you said that I caught fire..." Hifumi's beady eyes shrunk at the memory of the event.

"It's a very simple game." Ignoring the words of the round boy, she looked around at the rest of the class, those icy eyes taking any little detail. "We will play rock-paper-scissors together, and the ones who lose will play with each other until only one poor loser remains. And as a punishment, they will have to buy food for everyone."

It seemed innocent enough for everyone to join in, as there weren't any weapons or dangerous rules this time. Some of them were interested in trying to use their talents in the game while others were confident in their chances and too lazy to go buy food.

"I'm in, but let's also add that everyone will have to put their own money." Kyoko quickly made sure to crush any chance of others getting a free meal, smirking when she heard Junko clicking her tongue.

And so sixteen students formed a circle in the middle of the class, all of them ready for several rounds of scheming, tactics, and tricks.

Makoto showed everyone why he was the Ultimate Lucky student of the class. His hazel eyes were wide as he looked down at his hand, opened in the form of paper, and then to the hands of his peers. Fifteen scissors against one paper.

"Huh?" It was all the Luckster could say, still looking at his hand that betrayed him.

"I wasn't expecting this to end in just one round." Sakura cast a sad glance at the boy.

"Is... is this even possible?" Toko was the next one to talk, a shaky smile appearing on her lips, she never wins anything besides literary awards.

"It's quite uncommon that's for sure." The gambler of the group had little doubt about her victory but even her stoic face was locked into an expression of surprise, thin eyebrows arching upwards. "Your luck is quite a hassle isn't it?"

At least Junko wasn't berating him and his bad luck, if only because the busty beauty was too busy laughing her ass off. She was expecting a longer and more gruesome game but getting her hopes crumbled to dust combined with Makoto despairful face was even better.

He sighed already used to the erratic luck he was born with. Once all the money was resting safely inside his pocket, the boy honored his part of the deal. It went much easier than the last time the luckster lost a similar game with his middle-school friends, no jewelry thief or traffic accident this time. The worst thing this time was having to wait in line for a few minutes and bumping into that girl from before, but she seemed to be very pleasant; besides everyone else was munching their lunches with happy faces so Makoto considered the task a success.

The fake red-head stopped mid-bite to look at the Luckster, one eyebrow raised. "Dude, where is yours?"

The sudden question made Makoto sweat, his hazel eyes looking away from Leon in hopes to avoid eye contact. "W-well, I was hungry and ate it on my way here."

"Did you now?" Leon squinted at his friend before sighing, he grabbed the untouched food and split it into two before offering half to him. "Here."

Makoto's cheek turned pink, not because he had any romantic feelings for the wannabe-punk star mind you, but because his lie was easily unraveled. "Thanks..." Makoto took a gingerly bite and his lips instantly changed into a smile. His mood was an open book but it was one that his friends never got tired of.

"Don't mention it," Leon smirked before devouring the meaty treat himself, a sense of satisfaction growing in his chest.

He was a good boy.

_ **/-/** _

_Sunday, two days later._

Earlier in his life, Makoto learned to be always prepared for any unforeseen situation that life may throw his way. That's why his backpack was full of things like bandaids, a handkerchief, a sewing kit, an extra pair of underwear, and any other object that gave him the title of Momkoto, something that the boy was unaware of. But today was one of those days when his planning would bear fruit: the morning weather report informed that it would be a sunny day without any clouds, and yet the sound of the raindrops could be heard all over the city.

Makoto was taking temporary shelter under the canopy of a candy store, sadly he couldn't wait for the downpour to pass. The old woman managing the store made it very clear that if the boy wasn't going to buy anything he had to scram; it was a cheap move to earn more money but at the end of the day, it was her store. If only Makoto didn't spend all his money buying the game he has been waiting for so long, Dork Souls 3.

He didn't have money even for a single piece of gum, and yet the Luckster's face was devoid of any worry, as he came prepared for something like this. Reaching for his green backpack, Makoto retrieved a black compact umbrella. The boy was beaming at his foresight, and with a smile he pushed the button at the handle.

Nothing happened. He pushed it again. Nothing happened.

"D-don't tell me it's stuck!" That little outburst drew the attention of the greedy lady, her foot rhythmically tapping on the wooden floor like a clock. This made the boy panic and that panic made him try to fix the umbrella by pulling at it. "C'mon you... piece of junk..."

It was almost comical how the boy grunted while fighting with the piece of plastic, letting out a specially strong one as he pulled harder. The sound of something ripping put a halt to his movement, his face going pale and hazel eyes slowly looking down just to see a huge gash across the cloth of the umbrella. The sound of the rain hid well enough the moment the, now useless, umbrella fell to the ground with Makoto's knees following.

_"So this is how true despair feels like, you win this time luck!" _Gritting his pearly whites, Makoto stood to spare a glance at the street. There wasn't any cover but the academy wasn't that far away. _"If I put on my hood and cover the game box well enough I can make it." _Makoto took a deep breath. "Time to make a run for it!"

"Make a run for what?"

The Luckster was mid-step when that question was directed to him, making the boy almost trip when he looked to the side. His eyes widening, he knew this person. "You are... Akane, right?"

Indeed she was, the same girl from a few days ago was now looking at him with a cocked eyebrow. A transparent umbrella shielded her from the onslaught of the rain. "Do I know ya?"

"I'm Makoto, we bumped into each other." Everyone used to tell him that he had an average look and face, besides they only talked for a bit. Still, the Luckster was a bit disappointed that he left such a weak impression. When Akane's tilted head was an easy tell that she still didn't remember, he sighed. "I gave you a meat bun."

The girl's face instantly lit up, those two last words sparking her brain to remember. "Oh yeah, you are that Mark guy!"

"I just told you my name was Makoto!" His jaw was slack, how could she have such a terrible memory? That wasn't even a Japanese name.

"Haha yeah, something like that." Akane gave him a happy grin as an apology, remembering other's names never ended well for her. She looked at the wet streets and then at him again. "Are you gonna run around with this weather? Bad idea."

Of course, he knew that but his options were pretty limited. "Yeah but I can't stay here anymore and my umbrella broke, so I have to make a run for it. At least I have my trusty hoodie..."

"Wanna walk together?" That nonchalant question made Makoto look at the girl with wide eyes, Akane was smiling at him. He thought that her smile was nice. "You are going to Hope's Peak, right? C'mon, let's go."

The young man almost turned down the offer out of pure courtesy and not wishing to be a bother, but the girl's cheerfulness pushed him to accept the offer. With a bit of a shy nod, Makoto walked under Akane's umbrella and started their walk together.

The umbrella was big enough to shield both of them from the rain if they got close enough, but that wasn't the case. The Luckster was self-conscious about the idea of walking together with a girl under the rain and didn't want to look like a creep by invading her personal space, so Makoto's shoulder was outside under the attack of the tiny droplets of water.

Such a thing didn't get past the, sometimes, perceptive girl that looked at him with an eyebrow cocked. "Hey, you are getting soaked." Before he could invent some excuse for it, the girl put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer until their shoulders were touching. "There, better right?"

"Y-ya." The boy managed to respond with a dry chuckle, he could feel the cold dampness on his arm giving way to the warm touch of the girl. Maybe it was him but Makoto could feel Akane's warmth through his clothes. Is that why his face felt so hot?

"Do you hear that?"

The boy finished taking a deep breath before looking at Akane with confused eyes. He looked around as if that would help him listen better. "I just hear the rain and some cars."

A frown starts to form on the gymnast's face, "Come here for a sec."

Fighting back wasn't an option, seeing how Akane was still gripping his shoulder and how strong she was. Not like Makoto minded it too much; she looked troubled and his bleeding heart couldn't stand seeing someone like that. They walked through some alleys and dodged the splash from a car when it passed over a puddle, then Makoto heard something close by. It sounded like a meow? The two students found the source of the noise once they turned the next corner.

On the side of the street rested a cardboard box, darkened and soggy because of the rain, but the thing that drew their attention was its occupant. A tiny kitten was meowing inside with her orange fur wet and dirty, the poor thing trying to climb outside but always ending up falling on its back.

A dash later and the two students were next to the box and the soaked ball of fur. Makoto was crouching in front of it and his jacket was soon around the kitten as a makeshift towel. Akane was covering both of them with her umbrella, the frown on her face growing.

The poor thing curled inside Makoto's jacket in search of the warmness that was still inside. He would have to clean it, but it was the farthest thing from his mind right now. "Poor thing is shivering..."

"What kind of asshole leaves a baby cat alone on the street?" The athletic girl spat those words.

The Luckster could imagine who, someone that considered a waste of their time to bring the poor thing to an animal refuge nor the kindness to take care of it. Makoto pushed those thoughts away; there were more important things to take care of. "Li'l guy needs someplace to rest and warm-up, but there aren't any Vets nearby."

"We can take him to the school, there is a guy in my class that is super good with animals. He will help." Truth be told, Gundam and Akane rarely interacted with each other. The esoteric words that the breeder used on a daily basis went right over the girl's head but the Supreme Overlord of Ice always had time to tend to any animals that needed help. So he must be a nice guy.

"Really? That's great let me-" As Makoto was turning around, his hazel eyes focused on a car that was speeding down the street.

The vehicle wasn't going over the speed limit or driving on the sidewalk as if a maniac was behind the wheel, but the car was splashing everywhere each time it rolled over a puddle and they were right in front of a huge one at the moment. Acting before thinking was one of his specialties and so, Makoto turned around and hugged the improvised cradle. At worst it would be some cold and dirty water but the boy refused to let the innocent kitten suffer anymore.

Makoto closed his eyes and braced himself, flinching at the sound of the splash going everywhere. He took a second to realize that something was off, the boy didn't feel cold or the dampness of his clothes, and confusion etched on his face as he turned around and his expression shifted into pure shock. Akane was in front of him with an arm extended while the other was still gripping the umbrella, still covering the boy and kitten from the rain. Her clothes were wet and dirty, and those brown soggy locks were obscuring her expression.

With wide eyes, the boy opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to it. "Agh, that's cold!" A hand came to the girl's face to wipe away some water and slid back her bands. Dark gray eyes went over the crouching boy and she smiled. "Hey, you two are alright. I'm glad."

"Akane you..." Makoto was speechless, she wasn't telling him but there was no doubt. The gymnast used her own body to shield him and the kitten from the water, all while refusing to move the umbrella. The Luckster assumed that Akane was a good person with their limited interactions but after this he had no doubt that she possessed a kind and gentle heart. He stood back up with a smile that matched hers, the small hairball resting on his arms. "Thanks for protecting us, you really are amazing."

"You bet I am! But that was nothing so no need to thank me." She didn't care about the thanks but if the way she puffed out her chest was any indicative, she enjoyed the praise.

Makoto considered himself a bit of a gentleman; he didn't wear suits or drank tea outside of the times Celeste invited him to talk, but he knew his manners like opening the door for others and looking at a girl's eyes while talking. This wasn't different, at least until Akane did that specific motion that drew Makoto's eyes downwards. The athletic girl was wearing a white blouse and judging by the way it went see-through thanks to the water, nothing else. The cheeks of the Luckster turned so pink, so fast that he almost got a nosebleed like in those old anime. It was just for a moment before looking back up but that image was already burnt in his retinas.

"A-Akane y-your clothes!"

"Here take this." Maybe she didn't listen to him or she simply didn't care but Akane gave Makoto the umbrella. His gaze went to it and then to the girl's joyful face. "I'm already drenched so you can have it. Gonna jog to the school by myself."

"But..." While it was true that an umbrella would be of little help now, Makoto was still iffy about it.

"A bit of rain is nothing, it's almost like a shower." She grinned and started running down the street, turning around a bit to wave. "Make sure to bring the little guy to the dude I told you about. He is named like a robot and has ice-cream shaped hair!"

And with that bizarre description, she went away leaving a very confused but dry boy with a kitten on his jacket. It was their second time talking and Akane already left a very strong impression on him, along with a strange desire of seeing her again.

"Meow"

"You said it, buddy..."

A small smile began to lighten up his face, although Makoto was still worried about Akane's health. Little did he know that she has never gotten ill all her young life.

Akane Owari was immune to sickness.

_ **/-/** _

_Monday._

A guttural grunt rumbled through the room, carrying distress, pain, and the need for a glass of water. The source? The resident of that room, who was laying under the sheets with a fever.

Indeed, for the very first time. Akane was sick. Worst of all, she had no one to blame for this unfortunate situation than herself.

When Akane came back to the dorms, she was soaked from head to toe and leaving a trail of wet footsteps that some poor employee would have to clean. Once in the confines of one room, a normal person would discard their wet clothes and take a nice, hot shower. But Ultimates aren't normal people, hence the name, and even for their standards, Akane was a special case.

The clothes did end up in a laundry basket but the shower didn't go through because of the girl's unique logic, _"Rain is like nature's shower, so taking another one is just a waste."_ Anyone with a shred of common sense could have refuted such a childish thought, but she was alone so the girl went to sleep after drying up with a towel. Giving the chance for some germ to slip past her body's defenses to make a mess out of things.

At least it didn't seem like something that would give too much trouble to her immune system, but while her cells were at work, Akane had to suffer the symptoms. Those included; a headache, fever, her body feeling hot and cold at the same time, coughing, and feeling like shit in general.

However, the physical discomfort wasn't the worst part, the fact that she couldn't move around was. Not only was she bored out of her mind, rolling around in the bed trying to catch some Z's, but Akane was also alone with her thoughts. Every person experiences that situation sometimes; their minds get assaulted with worries and embarrassing memories that should have been buried a long time ago. But, once again, Akane wasn't like the normal people, neither was her childhood.

Through her years the gymnast unconsciously created a method to cope with all her emotional baggage: not thinking about it. Simple, and yet astonishingly effective. If you don't think about it, it can hurt you. So she kept stuffing her stomach with food, occupying her mind with her next fight and such.

But now her bottomless appetite was quenched and you can't fight an illness with your fists. So she was all alone, just like before. Like always.

A coughing fit shook her out of the bleak swamp of her thoughts, one of her hands clutching her chest. The throat of the girl felt like sand; she needed some water asap. So she got up on shaky legs against the screams of her body to go back to bed. Even the short trip to the sink felt like a long and painful journey. The sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted Akane's travel to the holy water; for a second the temptation to simply ignore it was strong but the knocking came again and it was making the headache very present for her.

So, with a tired sigh, the sick girl dragged herself to the door and opened to see... a very familiar boy.

"Wow, you look... sorry did I wake you up?" Makoto caught himself before commenting on the sorry state of Akane. A running nose and sweaty brow wasn't doing her any favors.

After a few blinks and some sniffling, that sick brain of hers managed to form some words. "You are... Bill? Listen I don't want to play now..."

Makoto couldn't help but chuckle, the sickness was making it even harder to remember names. "It's Makoto and I'm not here to play, I was afraid that you weren't feeling well after what happened." A white plastic bag was hanging from his hand, "Can I come in?"

A slow nod was the answer of the sick girl, she didn't think about it for a second, for each second she wasted standing there was like a taste of hell. Not caring too much for manners, Akane dragged her sorry self to the bed and landed on it face first, quite unceremoniously at that. When she realized that her ass was back to square one and there was no glass of water close by, she let out a pitiful whine.

Makoto for his part was looking over the room with surprised eyes. As a teenage boy, media and pop culture gave him some expectations about girl's rooms. Those little patches of heaven were often depicted with soft pastel colors, frilly beds and curtains, some cutesy stuffed animals, and a sweet, lingering scent. Akane didn't comply with such a generic view.

The room was sparsely decorated with only the basic stuff that the school gave at the start of the year. A great variety of trash littered the floor. Empty ramen cups, crumpled bag of chips, stained burger wrappers... But at least, there wasn't any half-eaten food to stink the air. Makoto always looked at the positives, no matter how little they were.

His scrutiny on the room came to a halt when the poor girl grunted like a wounded animal. The raspiness of her voice gave him an idea of what she wanted. After apologizing for the intrusion and rummaging over the sink a bit, the boy sat next to the bed carrying the refreshing liquid of life in a glass.

"Here, some water."

Those words were like a magic spell, reviving Akane long enough for her to down the whole glass with some difficult gulps. Now that her throat wasn't a desert anymore, Akane took a moment to look at the boy with a quizzical look.

"Um, something wrong?"

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, to make sure you were alright." He let the plastic bag rest on the nightstand next to the bed, the boy reaching for something in it.

"But why?" The girl's tired eyes didn't leave his form for a second, thinking that he wanted some sort of reward for it. If so, he should just say it straight away.

The question made Makoto stop mid-motion, a metallic thermos resting in his hands and eyebrows furrowed. "Because I was worried about you?" Makoto always found questions like that weird, as if a person needs a motive to help others.

Not satisfied with the answer in the slightest, she tried to speak again but her nose caught a rich smell the moment the Luckster opened the thermos. "What's that?" Was the question that came instead.

"Chicken soup!" The delicious smell spread through the room when the warm liquid was poured in a small bowl. "My mom always makes it for me when I get a cold." Makoto offered the steaming soup with an apologetic smile, "This one is from a store though."

Their fingers grazed when Akane took the bowl but she didn't think anything of it, as her gaze was directed to the liquid food. It smelled good, it looked good and it wasn't the first time she accepted food from the boy, and yet, it felt different. She didn't understand why, neither did her stomach which growled with renewed hunger.

She stuck to her philosophy: eat first, think later.

The soup was strong enough for Akane to taste it despite her numbed taste and it went down easily. Sometimes she had to chew some small noodle or piece of chicken that was in it to add flavor while a gentle warmness pooled in her belly, slowly spreading to the rest of her being. Now that the need for food and water was covered her body was aching for the rest to heal as soon as possible. And so she did, a second after closing her eyes, she was quietly snoring away.

Makoto couldn't believe it; she obviously didn't know what insomnia was. The Luckster was also surprised about how little she cared about sleeping when there was a boy in her room. A more wicked person would try to take advantage of the sleeping beauty that was resting on the bed. Maybe she trusted him enough to keep his hand to himself, or maybe Akane didn't see Makoto as a threat.

Makoto didn't care about the reason and only touched Akane's forehead with his palm; it was clammy and hot. Looking again inside the convenient bag he took out a hand towel to clean her brow. After a short trip to the sink he came back with a wet one that was placed on the girl's forehead. She appreciated it if the happy sigh she let out in her sleep was anything to go by.

Sadly, Makoto was faced with a conundrum. Now what?

He already checked on Akane and gave her the things he bought. Sticking around to watch her sleep would be creepy, and walking away without saying goodbye rude. Maybe he could pass the time doing something until she wakes up, but that was another question. Do what?

A quick look over the messy place gave him his answer. Every student was expected to take care of their room so the school gave cleaning supplies for the task. He found them inside a closet after a quick search; there were rubber gloves, trash bags, and a lint roller that hadn't been used. Once he was equipped with the items, the cleansing began.

Makoto wasn't the Ultimate Maid but he managed well enough. He filled a bag and a half with all the empty wrappers and canisters until the blue carpet was visible once again. The boy had to go to his knees and use the lint roller to pick up any piece of trash that was too little for his fingers. It took time but the job was done after five layers were used. Makoto stood and smiled at a job well done. He probably should do the same to his room someday...

Another grunt got his attention just when he finished putting away everything. Akane was done with her power nap and was now looking around the room with wide eyes, barely recognizing the room she was in.

"You are awake, hope you slept well. I took the liberty to tidy up the place a bit..." Looking back, having someone clean your room while you sleep falls onto the creepy category. Makoto scratched her neck a bit before looking back at her, "A-anyway, you look better."

The gymnast glanced at him with curiosity, she wasn't cured by a long shot but her body wasn't trying to kill itself anymore, so that was good. But this whole thing was bugging her, she had to know.

"Okay, what do you want?"

"Huh?"

"Ya want money? Or maybe something like touching my-"

"H-hold on!" Makoto waved his hands in front of her, he had the feeling that she was about to say something outrageous. "I didn't come here looking for a reward."

"Liar." She said it with such gravity that Makoto stood there in silence, she took it as a chance to keep talking. "No matter how much you cry or ask for help, no one will come. Even if you are hurt or sick."

The Luckster had the sinking feeling that she was talking from experience, yet he tried to cheer her up. "What about your classmates? They are your friends and I'm sure they will come."

If this was a movie her friends would knock on the door at that very moment. It was a shame that his luck didn't gift him with dramatic timing.

"Whatever..." The girl turned around, gaze low.

"Well... I'm here and I just want to help you." Makoto gave the girl a kind smile, his head tipped to the side a little to try and catch her attention.

It was a success since they were now looking into each other's eyes, she wanted to say something back but the girl didn't know what. He did seem genuine with his words and her instincts were telling the same. Still, she was too hardheaded to admit it. "Because you are weird..."

Instead of getting angry or offended, Makoto chuckled, "Then you are weird too." Akane was now the one tilting her head. "You helped me and that kitten yesterday, remember?"

For reasons the girl didn't understand her cheeks felt very hot, was the fever coming back? "I... I only did it because you two are so small and weak my food will taste bad if I ignored you!"

The tough girl turned around on the bed so Makoto couldn't look at her, but she knew that boy was smiling.

"Haha, I see, these two weaklings give you their thanks." There was no response to that, maybe she fell asleep again.

"... How is the little guy? Not that I care..." Once again, she could hear Makoto's smile through his words.

"He is doing great, the ball of fluff is a fighter and Gundam is very kind to him." A hand came to scratch his cheek remembering their first meeting, "Even if a bit weird, he gave him a strange name too. Abadon, the tiger of hell, or something like that."

Now it was her turn to smile.

A knock on the door made the two teens look at it in surprise and because the owner of the room needed more rest, Makoto offered to open it. The boy saw a girl with purple hair and mismatched bangs carrying a medical kit on her hands. Her already squirmish expression turned even more nervous the instant she saw the boy, no doubt confused about why the Luckster was inside Akane's room.

"Um..." Shaky purple eyes wandered to the sign on the door before going back to Makoto's face. "W-why are you in Akane's room? P-please, forgive me if I'm being r-rude!"

The boy hadn't said anything and the poor girl was already on the verge of tears, not cool Makoto. "N-not at all! Sorry if I scared you, my name is Makoto Naegi and I'm... Akane's friend." Makoto liked how that sounded out loud, a gentle smile was then directed to the nervous girl. "What's your name?"

The girl wrapped in bandages straightened herself so fast that her long hair almost hit Makoto on the face. She looked just like a deer in front of a truck. "You want to know my name?... I'm Mikan Tsumiki..."

Maybe it was his imagination, but Mikan almost looked expectant about the boy's reaction. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mikan."

"R-really?" The shy girl couldn't believe what he just said, a pleasure to meet her? Mikan's whole face lit up when she smiled and began giggling a bit. It became awkward after a full minute passed.

"So... you are here for Akane?"

His words dragged the happy nurse back to reality, and back to the edge of a nervous breakdown. "AH! So s-sorry for laughing without permission! I will give you all my money, so please forgive me!"

After another minute of the Mikan bawling and Makoto trying to calm her down passed, Akane was getting curious about who was at the door. Her eyes widened when Mikan walked inside carrying a medical kit.

"Mikan? You... came?"

"Y-yes, sorry I took so long." After leaving the kit next to Makoto's bag, Mikan moved with the precision expected of a professional nurse, checking Akane's temperature, pupils, and even pulse. "We had to start preparations for the school festival but Chisa gave me permission to leave early to check on you. The others will visit soon."

Makoto was astonished by Mikan's change in attitude, no longer the scared girl but the competent nurse that was devoted to helping others. According to her examination, Akane had the flu but the symptoms were mild and she should recover in a few days with enough rest. The sick girl wasn't listening to her, so deep into her thoughts that the knocking on the door didn't get the gymnast out of them. It wasn't until a strong hand landed on her head that Akane realized how crowded her room became.

"Are you listening? That flu must have got you pretty hard?"

"Old man? Is that you?"

"Of course it is me! I'm the one and only NEKOMARU NIDAI!" Nekomaru had some troubles with raising his voice to 200% sometimes and Akane's pained head suffered from it.

"Were you raised in a locker room? Don't scream when there is a sick person in the room."

Akane looked at the person who was making the big guy scratch the back of his neck in shame, those freckles and hair red as an apple were unmistakable. Mikan, Nekomaru, and Mahiru were at the side of her bed, and more faces came into view.

"My my, that look doesn't suit you at all. Don't fear, I made some porridge that will fill you up with energy, Mama's recipe."

"Huh~? I thought idiots didn't get sick, maybe you aren't as dumb as you look?"

"It's a shame that there is no medicine for your venomous tongue."

Teruteru, Hyoko, Fuyuhiko... everyone was here. But why? They had nothing to gain from it and Akane didn't ask for help, and yet, her classmates... her friends came because they were worried about her.

Just like he said they would. Maybe she had to rethink some things about people, but first, Akane wanted to talk to him. But no matter how much she looked around, Makoto was nowhere to be found. He probably left, not wishing to be a bother...

"Oh my! Akane is pouting? So cute, Ibuki won't lose!"

_ **/-/** _

_Tuesday._

Makoto eating alone in the cafeteria was quite the strange sight; he was a social butterfly after all, no matter how much the boy declared that he was simply a run of the mill guy. Today was one of those days when everyone had something to do or didn't care for some company at the time, it wasn't all that bad actually. Sure, he loved to talk with his friends about everything and anything but having a quiet meal once in a while was refreshing. Makoto took a moment to browse the news on his phone as the plate of curry he ordered was cooling down.

"That looks good."

And it was already over before he could even get one bite of his favorite food, oh universe, you dramatic bitch. Well, every meal tastes better with someone at your side, but why did that voice sound so familiar? He got his answer when the person sat in front of him with a plate of food so large that challenged a shaky Jenga tower in instability. His phone suddenly became much less interesting.

For in front of him sat a certain tanned girl, showing no mercy to a bucket of chicken wings. The cafeteria didn't sell those. "Akane? You are cured!"

The statement sounded like the girl managed to beat some uncurable disease but to be fair Makoto never saw someone get over the flu in just one day. What kind of body did Akane have? Now, he was thinking about her body, great.

"Hell yeah, I am!" The brawler flexed an arm to show how healthy she was, that biceps making the boy feel things. "Mikan said that it was the fastest recovery she ever saw. You think I broke a record or something?"

Makoto's face was full of bewilderment, "You definitely did, I think that they give awards for that."

"Awesome! But getting sick sucks, you shouldn't try it."

"Hahaha, most people don't have a choice on the matter."

The banter kept flowing like that while they ate, Makoto found it easy to talk to Akane after all the things that happened. It was nice to have a normal time with a friend for once, even if Akane's way of devouring food was anything but normal.

"Wow, you have quite the appetite." Usually, commenting on a girl's eating habits was a suicidal move but Makoto had the feeling she wasn't that type of girl.

"Well yeah, you can't move with an empty stomach and I move a lot, ya know?" The toothy grin of Akane told how proud she was of that fact.

"It's because of your talent?"

Makoto supposed that Akane's talent was related to her body because of her upbeat attitude and physique, it reminded him of someone. It was a supposition though, maybe she was the Ultimate Mathematician or something. It was interesting that they didn't know each other's talents yet; most students of Hope's Peak added their talents to their presentation, like a nobiliary title.

"My talent?" The tanned beauty crossed her arms under her chest, obviously thinking about it. "They gave me this Ultimate Gymnast title but I only do it for the money." It wasn't something that rare: several Ultimates didn't care too much for their talent or straight out hated them. "What about you?"

"Well..." Makoto's talent made him feel inadequate about being around such talented people; granted he got more accepting of himself and his worth but getting rid of all of it was tricky. "I'm the Ultimate Lucky student of Class 78, from the annual lottery."

Now Makoto was expecting a few reactions: Surprise, disappointment, boredom, a condescending look or the classic _is luck even a talent?_ Once again, his expectations were subverted when Akane grimaced at the revelation.

"You aren't a creep, right?" She took a good look at his face like she could see if she looked hard enough.

"What? I... I don't think so..." The Luckster tried to act civil in front of others, doing his best not to gawk at the many, MANY, pretty girls in his class and the whole academy.

His words calmed down the girl who simply grinned with happiness, "Good, the one in our class is a weirdo. Always talking about hope and eerie stuff, I like you better."

Makoto wasn't familiar with the extravagant luckster but he wanted to believe that they weren't that bad. A shame that his brain was trying to grasp Akane's final words. _"Did she just? No way! She meant like a friend, don't freak out!"_ It was clear that she didn't have any hidden meaning behind her actions and words, so why was he blushing like that?

"Your face is red like a tomato, you better not be sick."

"Ah, n-no I'm fine." He waved his hand while trying to fight back that pesky blush, he had to change the subject. "But I'm surprised, most people focus more on my talent than on me."

"Why is that?" Akane leaned forward a bit.

"Because I'm the perfect definition of normal and average; if you search those in a dictionary you can see my picture." The Luckster joked with his lack of distinctive characteristics, the boy heard those jokes so often that he preferred to do them himself.

"That's weird." The girl propped her chin on the palm of her hand, a grin across that cute face. She was about to destroy this boy. "Cause I never met anyone like you before."

A critical hit against Makoto's heart that made most of the blood in the boy's body go to his face. How could she be this smooth without even trying? It wasn't fair. "I... I..." Nothing, Makoto was too flustered to say anything back.

"There you go again, don't get sick on me. I can't repay you if you do."

That kickstarted Makoto's brain again, though his face was still cherry-red. "You want to repay me? If this about the soup and me cleaning your room? It was nothing that important." Getting a reward for such a trivial thing would leave a sour taste in his mouth.

"It's not only that..." There was no easy way to say, 'thanks for changing my old views and give another opportunity to people.' Not without sounding weird and definitely not because Akane was embarrassed of admitting it, not at all. "Just shut up and accept it!"

Makoto chuckled as a drop of sweat appeared on his brow. "Haha, those are the most forceful thanks I have gotten." He replenished the lost fluid with a sip of water.

"I could give you some money or do you a favor..." Akane bit the inside of her cheek, those sounds too impersonal for her taste. When the tanned athlete crossed her arms under her chest, the answer came to her, or in this case, it hiked up. "I know! Wanna feel my boobs?"

And there was the spit take, it had a nice form but couldn't compare with Mahiru's. After coughing all that water out of his lungs and wiping away his mouth, Makoto recovered enough to talk. His cheeks blushing for the third time on a row. "D-d-d-don't joke with things like that! You just want to mess with me."

"You don't wanna? But they are super soft." Akane gave them a squeeze to demonstrate their softness and bounciness, Makoto gulped loudly at it. "And all guys like them big."

Untrue, but Makoto wasn't in the mood to discuss the intricate topic of preferences and body types. "I-I see... but you shouldn't offer things like that to people, they could take advantage of you Akane."

The orbs were freed from her grasp, Akane looked puzzled at the simple concept. "How so? Is not the first time I let someone cop a feel as a favor or to pay for stuff."

The Luckster's body went from hot to cold in a second, and it felt as if someone dropped a heavy piece of coal in his stomach. He dreaded to ask, "What... do you mean? Do people ask things like that to you?"

"Yeah, when my mother's boyfriends came to visit they insisted on giving me full-body massages, and when working as a waitress I had to do it without panties and let clients motorboat them for tips. There was also this guy that oinked like a pig..."

It was both amazing and sad how the girl could talk about events that could scar someone for life with such a carefree tone but it sounded like an annoyance for her more than anything. It's scary how people could accept such things as normal when they were part of their world since childhood. While Akane kept sharing her past experiences to him, Makoto's hands were clenched into fists, so hard that his knuckles were white and his nails began to dig into the palms. The cold piece of coal was now smoldering and threatening to burn a hole through his belly, something inside his chest was bubbling and trying to rise from his throat.

"Dude are you really okay? You have a super intense face, don't blow a casquet on me." Even with that, she failed to grasp the atmosphere around them.

"Those... pigs..." By a miracle, Makoto managed to swallow his anger and what he truly wanted to say about those people. Earlier he thought that Akane was just a free spirit who didn't think too much about being flustered about such things, Makoto knew better now. "They had no right to do those things to you, they took advantage of you!" The boy didn't mean to raise his voice like that, luckily no one besides them were around to hear it.

Because the way Akane's eyes widened she wasn't expecting the small outburst of the small boy. Not understanding why he was mad about such an old thing, however, Akane's confusion quickly turned into anger. How dare he of all people treat her like some weak girl? He was thinking lower of her just because she was being nice.

"Stop that, don't act like I'm a weakling." The way the brawler growled those words made the Luckster calm down, a bit of panic setting in.

"N-no that wasn't my intention, I don't think you are weak at all." Makoto shook his head with dread but he could feel their distance growing by the second.

"Yes you do, only because you saw me sick one doesn't mean that I need your help. I'm strong!" Akane was done with this, it was a mistake thinking that her way of doing things was wrong. Living in this place had made her soft, Akane stood up and walked away clearly tired of the conversation.

"A-Akane wait!" The boy's hand reached for her but it was too late, he was afraid to make things worse if he forced her to talk more so Makoto just watched her leave. He watched the red marks on his palms for a second before covering his face with them, "I'm such an idiot..."

_ **/-/** _

_Friday._

It was the first day of the school festival and everyone was excited about it. Ultimates, teachers, reserve course students, and even the common folk were invited to enjoy the festivities. From stalls with foods and games to shows and attractions made with the talents of the ultimates, it was a way to show to the people that the money given by the government was being used in something that gave some sort of results. One of the biggest projects was made by class 79, the class that people said was one of the craziest and extravagant of Hope's Peak history, and that was saying something.

The group of sixteen students claimed a whole floor of the school and transformed it into a full-fledged haunted house, or haunted school in this case. They had rigged the place with tricks and traps, decorated every hall and classroom with imagery that could drain one's sanity if they dared to gaze upon it for too long, and added mechanisms so everything could run smoothly without anyone controlling it. The young Ultimates were proud of their work, so proud in fact that they thought it was the best thing in the whole festival, which was a dangerous thing to say in a place full of inflated egos and butting personalities. The three main classes were at each other's throats trying to prove which attraction was the most successful one but they soon learned that such a task wasn't that easy.

The attractions were so different from each other thematically that it was like comparing a visual novel to a third-person shooter, and the school prohibited the selling of tickets to earn money, even if Hiro tried to do so anyway. The annoying laugh of a certain Supreme Leader, or so he claims himself to be, brought an end to the heated discussion but not to the problems.

"Nishishi~ I tooooootally have a plan that will demonstrate which class is the best and not boring. Unlike yours." He said with a grin that could split his cheeks at any moment.

The students that knew the prankster or had been victims of his tricks, usually both, looked at him with clear skepticism but having no better plan themselves they decided to listen. After a very bombastic explanation using charts, models, and sock puppets, everyone understood his wicked plan.

Each class would choose a representative from their group to go into the haunted house. The three students would start at the same time and travel the maze of terror. The one who exited it first would grant their classroom eternal glory and bragging privileges. However, they had to choose the correct people to be the representatives. If they all went with the badasses of the school the whole test would devolve into a simple race. No, their hearts had to be vulnerable to the icy grip of fear. It was quite easy to tell who were the most adequate for it, the ones who were sweating like pigs when the plan was revealed.

"Stop screwing around. I'm not scared just... feeling a bit under the weather." Kaito grumbled as he cleaned some dripping sweat from his chin using the sleeve of his galaxy jacket. His face had a sickly color to it.

"M-me neither, it's all a bunch of cheap tricks anyway." Akane managed to maintain a, somewhat, cool front in front of everyone but in her head, the girl kept repeating the same words as a mantra. _"I'm not scared. I'm strong. I'm not scared. I'm strong. I'm not..."_

"Well, I am! This place screams Bad Juju like crazy! You sure that this place wasn't built on top of an old cemetery?" The oldest of the trio was gripping at his locks while talking like the first character to die in a slash film. Hiro was never a calm person and never will be.

The _valiant_ trio stood at the entrance, a dark fog obscuring the floor and any mechanism that may be under it, with the added effect of giving an eerie atmosphere to the place. Several corridors stretched into the darkness, promising great horrors to the fools who dare to adventure into them. With cold sweat and tense jaws, they stepped inside.

There was no turning back now.

_ **/-/** _

"Where is everyone?"

Makoto was roaming the hall of the academy in his search for the rest of his classmates, an hour ago the boys and girls of Class 78 went to examine the competence -and enjoy a bit of the festival- leaving the Luckster behind to _take care of the fort_, but even his patience has a limit. Leaving behind a handmade sign that read 'Coming back soon' the gung-ho boy wandered through the stalls and attractions the rest of the classes made for the event.

"So class 78-A had a maid and butler cafe? Maybe Hifumi and Celeste are inside." With hope in his heart and a spring in his step, the boy got closer but his heels dug on the ground when he saw eight students flanking the door to the cafe.

Makoto couldn't decide what was more creepy, their looks; long arms and legs, snake-like features, and a tongue that reminded one of a certain murderous fiend. Or how all of their movements were coordinated as if they shared the same mind. What he knew was that neither Hifumi nor Celeste would go close to the sons of Orochimaru over there and he wasn't going to be the first.

The boy decided to wander a bit more, in body and mind. His thoughts went back to that day when he spoke too much, and because of all the preparations, the two haven't had a chance to talk about it. Makoto still remembered her angry scowl and how much he wished to make things right at the time. Maybe he could apologize now that things calmed down a bit, try to be friends again.

"Friends..." For some reason, that word sounded empty when he used it for Akane. The Luckster knew exactly what the reason was, he wasn't that dense of a person but after learning how miserable of a childhood she had, he could never take advantage of her naivety to ask the girl out. _"Besides, she is out of my league... there is no way she ever..." _He slapped himself on both cheeks loud enough for some people to turn around to look. The boy didn't want to think about such things, being Akane's friend was something amazing and he was happy with it.

Resuming his search for the missing class, the Luckster found them along with the other two classes. The first one to see him walking closer was the biker of the group.

"Hey man, weren't you supposed to stay behind to take care of the visitors?" His muscular arm crossing over his equally muscular chest as a sign of disapproval.

"Weren't you guys supposed to come back after a few minutes?" Makoto mimicked the gang leader's posture, it was less intimidating coming from him but the message was the same.

Ishimaru checked his watch in a panic and his face turned white as a ghost. "He is right, we are unforgivably late!"

Mondo's deflated a little upon learning that information, a hand reaching to scratch the back of his thick neck. "Fuck, seriously? Sorry, dude we got too into the competition."

"Competition?"

After calming down a bit, Ishimaru explained the purpose of the contest, its rules, and who were participating in it. Makoto's eyes widened a bit the moment Akane's name was mentioned along with the fact that they had been inside for more than twenty minutes. He decided to wait with the rest and took the liberty of studying their faces, most were already bored with the whole thing, deciding to talk with each other or play with their phones. Makoto didn't know class 79 too well but he would like to, sure, people say that they are crazy but isn't that every class here?

The sound of a door being opened made all the eyes in the hallway focus on the source there stood the shaky figure of Kaito Momota, his face pale as milk, and teeth clattering. He reunited with his class while dragging his feet.

"Jeez, you took your sweet time. Did you like it that much?" The boy with the fashion sense of an asylum patient had an innocent look on his eyes.

"S-s-shut it..." The spooked astronaut wasn't in the mood for Kokichi, then again, he never was. "I-it was w-way less scary when we were setting it up, and w-why were live spiders there?"

"Because Gonta put them there!" The gentleman in training hit his bongo of a chest with a fist. "Gonta thought that people like to meet spider friends!"

A pair of red eyes glanced over Kaito with clear disappointment before looking away. "You always act so tough and boisterous but the moment you see something scary..."

"Oh, one of the spider friends came with Kaito."

True to Gonta's words a little black spider was crawling on the shoulder of the astronaut in training. The poor teen was so shocked by it that his body reacted by jumping away and hugging whatever was closer to it. In this case, a distracted Maki.

"W-what are you..?" The child-caregiver was blindsided by Kaito's hug, a blush creeping on her cheeks as she tried not to think how it felt being in his embrace. "Do you wanna die?!" Screaming her catchphrase, Maki clenched a fist and uppercuts the boy with a strength that a mere child-caregiver shouldn't have. Kaito could taste blood in his mouth after falling flat to the floor.

"Hey, if the space cadet is here that means we won! Take that you limp dicks!" The busty inventor hollered with a laugh as she taunted the others.

"Tsk, it would be too much of you to act dignified in victory?" Byakuya pointed while crossing his arms, except that this Byakuya was a lot chubbier than the original.

"Took the words right from my mouth..." The original begrudgingly admitted while trying not to show how impressed he was with his doppelganger.

"So we can leave now? We are gonna be in a lot of trouble if the teachers see us slacking off." The shark teeth mechanic looked around to make sure that didn't happen already.

The bubbly swimmer shook his head with a frown. "No way, this isn't over! Maybe we can't win the gold medal but the silver is still within our reach!"

"Besides, leaving the others behind after we forced them to do this would be kind of a dick move." Hinata wasn't part of any of the classes competing but the normal teen was supporting class 77-B and his friends.

Most of them agreed to their points while the less nice of the Ultimates went to do their own thing but there was one who was thinking in silence.

_"They said that the Haunted House is pretty big but it has passed too much time, Akane is also pretty fast so she shouldn't have any problems clearing it. Maybe something happened to her?" _Worry started to eat him away, he knew that the girl was very capable of caring for herself.

And yet, he couldn't stop himself from going in while everyone was distracted. She probably will be mad at him for worrying about nothing again but he wouldn't stay put if there is a slight chance that someone is in danger. Makoto had to admit that those guys were talented, no pun intended, a minute inside and he already had the hibbie jibbies. The worst part was the numerous paths that the girl could have taken, without any clues to lead the search Makoto had to rely on luck, which was always a risk.

He didn't need to walk more than a few steps to find someone. Makoto raised an eyebrow as he looked at the unconscious form of Yasuhiro, drool trickling down into his wrinkly shirt and his eyes rolled back into the boy's empty head. What could have scared the clairvoyant so bad to make him pass out? Makoto raised his gaze in search of an answer. He sighed in pure disappointment

A white sheet was dangling from the ceiling, the thing was hanging from a very visible string and whoever did such a lazy arrangement didn't bother to draw a scary face or anything. The fact that Hiro got like this because it was embarrassing to all the human race but the Luckster couldn't leave him like this, they were classmates after all, and Makoto had to admit it... He forgot that Hiro was also competing.

After sitting the older teen against the wall and cleaning a bit of the drool, with Hiro's sleeve, the Luckster retraced his steps and went down another way. Makoto will come back to assist him out but he had another person to help first.

_ **/-/** _

Akane was having the opposite of a good time at the moment if the loud clattering of teeth and sweaty brow wasn't a clear indicator. The girl has never been in a Haunted House before because if the name was accurate they were haunted, in other words, full of ghosts.

She truly hated ghosts, they had strange powers, made creepy noises, their bodies were disturbing and worst of all, you can't hit them. They were cheaters!

"But this was m-made by those newbies, s-so there aren't real ghosts here..." After cheering herself up a bit she kept walking.

Sometimes she flinched when a pained moan came from one of the doors but Akane could manage it by simply walking pass by, fast. The strange paintings on the wall formed shapes out of this world that made her head hurt and tiny things were crawling on the ceiling, but it was fine, she could do it. She was strong.

After turning another corner Akane saw a woman or at least something with the form of one.

Her limbs were long and pale, with leathery skin that hugged the bones revealing the lack of muscle in them. Bony, crooked fingers twitched randomly at the ends of her hands, a sickening crack each time one moved. Covering the warped body was a tattered sundress that was once black but was now covered with brownish stains. Akane's instincts told her to turn around and under no circumstance look at the face of that... thing.

Curiosity took hold of her and she lifted her gaze. She regretted it in an instant.

What was behind the tangled mess of long, black, dirty hair couldn't be called a face. Rather than having two normal eyeballs the creature had two vertical slits that showed roads of rotten teeth that oozed black sludge, there was no visible nose under the two maddening mouths but if one dared to look lower, they would notice a big yellow eye instead of a mouth, staring right into Akane's soul.

When it was clear that they were aware of each other a snap came from the neck of the abomination; her head was now upside down but it didn't improve her appearance one bit. Its screech was the signal of a mad dash by the creature, that now was crawling with its four limbs.

Akane's stomach fell to her feet and her heart felt like it was trying to escape through her mouth, but she didn't back down. With a fierce glare on her eyes, she gritted her teeth and swung at the monster, just to see the hit phase through it like nothing. Somehow, that was the part that sent shivers down the girl's body and it only got worse when the body of the horror went through Akane's and sunk into the floor.

That thing wasn't in no way a real ghost, of course, it was the product of the latest technology in holograms that one could buy, or invent in this case. But for the poor girl that was now kneeling on the ground, it felt extremely real.

The experience made her teeth clatter like she was freezing, which was appropriate since her body felt very cold, and yet sweat was trickling down Akane's face.

"Ah... ah... a g-g-ghost..." She muttered to anyone, in particular, her voice above a whisper. "Have t-to leave..."

Forget the stupid contest, if another thing like that popped from nowhere she would have a heart attack! The gymnast gritted her teeth and attempted to get up but her knees had other plans. After the encounter with Sadako's ugly cousin, part of Akane's fear went down to her knees and now she couldn't put any strength in them. Panic started to mix with fear, her body trembling.

"No... someone..." Her eyes stung but she closed them tight and shook her head.

She was all alone like always, no one will come even if she calls for help. After all this time nothing changed.

She was scared.

She was alone.

She was weak.

Akane's head slowly went down until it pressed against the floorboards, the weight of everything becoming too hard to carry anymore. "Help..." That lonesome word left her, along with the last bit of hope she arbored.

"Akane, are you okay!?"

The sudden call seemed to give the girl some of her energy back, she lifted her head to see someone quickly walking towards her, this time it wasn't a ghost or a hologram.

"You... what are you doing here?" The gymnast couldn't believe it, of all people Makoto was in front of her. Just when she asked for help. Her hand quickly wiped away a stray tear, one from pure relief and happiness.

"I was worried so I came to help you." True to his words the boy strolled to her side to help her up. "I know where the exit is, lean into my shoulder till you can walk again."

"O-okay..." Akane did as asked, was Makoto's body always so warm? Her heart still thumped wildly on her chest but now it was different somehow.

Together they wandered the path Makoto came, the boy having already activated the scares of that part so they could cross safely if they walked fast enough.

"... Are you angry with me?"

The question cut the silence like a glowing 1000 degree knife cutting butter. Akane lost another bit of fear in exchange for confusion. "Why would I?"

"You don't seem to like when people get worried about you..." The boy didn't dare look at her while walking as if he was afraid of the kind of face she would make.

The whole fiasco in the cafeteria flashed in her mind, she acted so rude to the boy and now he was helping her when no one else was around. Her gaze lowered in shame. "I'm not mad..."

They walked a few more steps before Makoto asked again. "Do you think that being weak is bad?"

"The hell?" Now the girl was looking at him like he just went insane, yet she didn't let go of him. "Of course it is! If you are weak you can't do anything or fight!"

"Isn't that an excuse?"

"Wha..." That answer left her mute, or was it the fact that now he was looking at her so closely?

"Let's say that someone way stronger than you wanted to hurt one of your loved ones. Would you stay back and let it happen?"

The gymnast took a moment to think about it, picturing some huge thug trying to mess with one of her siblings.

"Of course not! I would give them the beatdown of their lives no matter how strong." She growled that answer; no one messed with the little one when she is around.

Instead of being intimidated by it, the Luckster smiled. "Exactly, just because you are weak doesn't mean that you can do things or protect others." His smile changed into a nervous one in a second, realizing that Akane may misunderstand his words. "Not saying that you are weak, you are really strong! But even strong people have things that they can't do alone. Asking for help doesn't mean that you are weak, it means that you have friends."

Everything finally clicked for Akane, all the times her friends, Nekomaru, and Makoto told her that being strong didn't mean being vulnerable made sense. She called for help, and Makoto came running to give it. The legs of the gymnast reclaimed their strength but Akane didn't move away from him, wanting to feel more of that warm kindness.

But all good things come to an end and this one was about to do it too; a faint exit sign glowed over the door to the hallway. Finally, she could escape from this nightmare and try to forget all of this happened...well, she will keep the good ones, those were nice and made her feel giddy.

Akane took a few steps toward the door but ceased to move when that warmth against her side disappeared. Turning around the girl saw that Makoto hadn't moved from his spot.

"It's better if they don't see me, that way no one will know that you don't like scary things." He scratched his cheek a bit, "Sorry you didn't win the competition but finishing it is worthy of praise."

"You will keep my secret? I... thanks."

"Don't mention it, I'm just glad we can be friends..." His smile shrunk a bit but he truly meant what he said. "Now I have to go back for Hiro, good luck!"

And with that, he walked away. Unaware that Akane kept looking at his back until she couldn't anymore.

"Was he always so cool?"

The bright light of day blinded Akane when she opened the door, it took a few blinks but she recognized the happy faces of her friends waiting for her. The sentiment was mutual.

"Akane came back to us, wondrous!" Sonia clapped her hands with glee.

"Hmph, so you weren't gorged by the maws of the underworld. Quite impressive for a mortal." Under his purple scarf, Gundham smirked.

"Hey guys, sorry I couldn't win."

"This kinda thing happens to the best." The calloused hand of Nekomaru patted her back, but unlike the other times he did so, now it was much more softer. "Next time you will crush it no problem!"

"Y-yeah, next time..." She will never go inside another Haunted House. Never ever...

"Nishishishi~ so those were the results huh? Guess that they weren't too boring after all."

"Kokichi, I know the answer is plainly obvious but..." The blue-haired girl of class 79 pushed up her glasses before making the question. "In what way does this prove that our Haunted House is better than the other attractions?"

"Very simple. It doesn't, I just wanted to mess with people." His hands went behind his head as he gave a punchable grin.

Tsumugi looked down and sighed. "You are too much of a wild card, even Igor would have problems controlling you."

"Aw, we lost!" Hina pouted angrily, her feet stomping on the ground. It was pretty cute actually.

Celeste scoffed at the vulgar reaction of the swimmer, a hand covering her mouth. "I'm much more impressed about the fact that any of you had any faith put in that simpleton."

"As usual, this was a waste of my time." The heir made use of his prodigiously large legs to get away from the shame of defeat.

The famous idol called for him. "What about Hiro?"

"Frankly? I don't give a damn." He didn't stop walking.

Realizing that it was a feeling shared by all, the students went back to their duties, the corridor became empty except for one person. Akane was staring at the door of the place, trying to determine why her chest was feeling so fuzzy and weird, and why her cheeks felt hot when she thought about Makoto. Then it made sense.

"So that's why..." There was a beaming smile on her face as she understood her feelings. It was a first for her, and she liked it.

_ **/-/** _

_Saturday._

Makoto was in pain, that much was clear after he had to carry the unconscious Hiro out of the Haunted House. The luckster tried to wake him up to no avail so he had to walk around with the teen's bigger body on his back, but things didn't stop there. After managing to get out with the dead weight, Makoto was welcomed by no one to ask for help. Which meant more walking around and even climbing some stairs to bring Hiro to the nurse's office. All while fighting the temptation of dropping his ass.

Thankfully Mikan was there to help him, though she seemed very happy to have someone hurt around, and she did trip over nothing into an embarrassing position. Nonetheless, Mikan was very sweet to him so Makoto couldn't help but wish her well. A shame that kindness wasn't a cure for sore muscle otherwise Makoto would be tremendously popular with athletes.

"Why are you walking all weird like that?" Talking about athletes, his favorite one was now walking alongside him.

"Good morning Akane, don't mind me just a bit sore after carrying some weight yesterday."

"You need to train more, I'm not that heavy. I'm all muscle tho." She grinned a little showing her biceps again as proof.

Makoto was glad that Akane wasn't someone oversensitive about her weight, still, he had to clarify. "No, no I didn't mean you and it was because I wasn't warmed up before doing it."

"Mhm, sure." She didn't believe a word and the smirk on her lips wasn't subtle about it. "If you are so beat up let's chill together, I know a place!"

"That sounds nice, a rest will be-" Before he could finish his wrist was in Akane's clutches and she didn't walk slowly. "Aw aw aw, wait a second! I'm still hurt!"

"Almost forgot!" The tanned girl stopped in her tracks, but not for the reason one might think. "Still owe you the reward for when I was sick and for helping yesterday."

"But I already told you that-"

_Chu~_

Makoto only registered what happened by the time Akane was reeling back with a grin, the lingering sensation of her lips against his cheek sent a jolt that transformed his ahoge into a spike.

"Hahaha so that's why you went all red before, I got it now."

The Luckster didn't care anymore about the muscle pain or how Akane was dragging him around, all his attention was into how much his cheeks burned and the way Akane laughed. Coming back to reality, Makoto squeezed her hand back and smiled like never before.

He had the feeling that this was the beginning of something marvelous.

**Omake**

A lone boy was sitting down on one of the chairs of the classroom. The class had finished a while ago but he wanted to stay behind to think. It was someone without a name or identity but with a talent that allowed him to take those things from others. It was his blessing and his curse.

At the moment he was 'Togami Byakuya', down to his mannerisms, voice, and visage. Sure, he was a bit overweight but if one didn't have the real one to compare them they would think he gained weight at an extremely fast pace. But a melancholic look made itself home on his face, one that didn't fit the persona that was impersonating at the moment.

Talking about the original heir, it was inevitable that the real Togami met the fake one, they both attended the same school after all. The Impostor was foreseeing a harsh scolding, peppered with some fresh baked insults for extra flavor. His prediction was right, for the most part.

When Byakuya was done verbally attacking the copycat he didn't turn around like usual but instead the heir stared at him intensely. The Impostor's mouth went slack a bit when Byakuya praised him for his skills, such an uncommon compliment from him was like seeing a black and white rainbow. It was a short-lived experience as he went back to his cold demeanor, his parting words being, "You better not shame the Togami family name."

The heavy teen saw him go away with wide eyes, did Byakuya recognize him as a member of the Togami's? The Impostor felt a strange kinship between him and the original, the kind of connection that only people that earned their spot in life can understand, maybe the heir wasn't as bad as he wanted others to think. He took a long and pensive look at the palm of his hand, did he truly earn something? The only thing the lonesome boy had were a bunch of identities from others, how much of a person could one be without even a name of their own? All of that existential crisis was momentarily pushed to the side when a more slender hand landed on his own, her owner laughing a bit.

"So Byakuya's hand is bigger than Ibuki's. Interesting, very interesting~"

The Impostor was so shocked that his facade almost became undone, luckily he was a professional so he recovered in an instant. "You are as unaware of the concept of personal space as usual Ibuki." Cold words, and yet, he made no effort to move away from the rocker girl.

"That's because you looked sad so Ibuki came to cheer you up!"

"Sad? Me? Preposterous… can you leave my hand alone please?" Trying to ignore the girl would be much easier if she wasn't squeezing and poking at his hand with such curiosity.

"But Twogami's hand is sooooooo soft that it makes Ibuki super jealous. Hers are all hard and stuff, see?" She finally let him go to show him, her hand had a few callouses on the palm and fingers beside her skin being rougher there.

"Hmph, I see..." The fake blonde took a long look at it and then back to its owner. "I fail to see why you felt jealousy towards mine, those hands of yours are the living proof of how dedicated you are to your craft and… excuse me, what did you call me?"

"Kya~ another cool and heartwarming line from Twogami! Ibuki's heart is going all _tumb dum badum!_ Right now!" The girl was stoked at the compliment, even though she could be having a heart attack by the description of her heartbeat. "Oh yeah, you see Ibuki calls you Twogami so people don't get you two mixed together. Clever, huh?"

"I must admit that you have quite a way with names…" A small smile formed on Twogami's lips, it was a silly nickname more than anything and yet it made him happy, sadly the smile faltered rather quickly. "Tell me, why do you insist on spending your time with an imitator?"

"Why?" At the question Ibuki closed her eyes and pressed the fingertips of her index fingers against her temples, gathering all her thinking power to answer. "Hmmmmmmmmmm. Why wouldn't I?"

"What I'm trying to say, is that if you want to spend time with Byakuya you should, instead of wasting it with a copy of him."

"Bzzzzzzzzzt~" It startled Twogami the way Ibuki imitated a buzzer in such a realistic way, her arms crossed for emphasis. "Ibuki wants to spend time with you, not him."

"That… makes no sense, even for you. I'm merely imitating him"

"Bzzzzzzzzzt~" Again with the buzzer. "No matter how much you try to imitate others or how many layers of makeup you use. You are still you." Suddenly Ibuki pounced on his side like some kind of wild cat, personal space be damned. "And you are super nice and cuddly!"

"Ibuki! Stop this, someone could see!" It was just for that one moment but the Impostor used his own voice to say those words, it was more high pitched than Byakuya's and made Ibuki's eyes sparkle.

"Audible gasp! That was so cute! Again, again!" From her privileged spot, the rock star could attack the pudgy belly of the boy with countless pokes.

He tried to shake her off his persona to no avail, not in a million years the proud heir of the Togami family would be caught doing this tomfoolery. Then again…

He wasn't him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap.
> 
> There you have it folks, my longest chapter till today. But I feel like this one had to be this way, it's the origin story of Naewari (Name registered) and I wanted to add a lot of juicy situations for the relationship to bloom and develop. That's why I jumped from their point of view along the story… kind of. And as some of you may have realized, I took heavy inspiration from "Everyday Life with Ultimate girls" and "Ultimate secret friends" for this chapter, but I think it has enough of my own style and ideas to make it unique.
> 
> Anyway, you can expect more chapters of this two doofus and a few more sub-ships. Talking about sub-ships, aren't Twogami and Ibuki adorable? I know that she also has a thing for girls but c'mon she was all over him in chapter 1. She wanted those ham hands!
> 
> Craziness aside, I have plans for this and other stories. So leave a review with your thoughts or suggestions if you feel like it.
> 
> Peace.


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